Dear Premier Pallister and Minister Friesen,

We are a group of over 1,500 nurses in Manitoba. We are writing this letter as an act of
demonstration of our unequivocal support for the stand our physician and PhD educated
colleagues have taken. As we are all healthcare providers, we wish to make it clear that we
are unanimously and powerfully hoping to be heard. We urge you to take urgent, strong
action to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, and to support healthcare
workers on the frontline of this pandemic.

Those of us who are working on the front lines feel as though the plans that our colleagues
have laid out are critical in providing any chance of our healthcare system surviving this
pandemic. We fully support these recommendations. We also echo their sentiment that
these are grave times, and that we therefore need significant and drastic measures in
response. We are concerned that the current management plan is falling short, leading to
catastrophic consequences.

Nurses have been calling for urgent action for months. We desperately need better
resources and support across our healthcare system in order to appropriately care for our
patients. Instead, we have watched as our province has acted reactively instead of
proactively to COVID-19. We have watched as decisions regarding policy and procedure
have been made for healthcare providers on the front lines instead of ​with ​us. We ask that
the province realizes the cost of this path.

Our community trajectory needs to be corrected. We need to once again flatten the curve in
hopes of giving our healthcare system a chance to provide the excellent quality of care that
Manitobans not only rely on, but deserve.

We agree with our colleagues that while the beds of our hospitals are at capacity, so are the
healthcare providers. As nurses, we are past our point of mental and physical exhaustion.
This second wave of the virus is immensely more taxing than the first, yet somehow we are
still fighting the same battles that were identified back in March. We are being told to ration
supplies or re-use dirty masks that have been in the presence of COVID-19 positive patients
because our supplies are limited. We are working short-staffed as many of our own are
falling ill or are exposed because of unclear or lacking hospital policies. We are promised
expanded treatment spaces to match healthcare demand, but wonder if we can even
appropriately or safely staff them if they open. We are being mandated to work overtime
hours and double-shifts regularly. We are worried when looking at our current path that the
worst is still yet to come.

Nurses have been vocal about the desperate need to address short-staffing on the
frontlines. The government has made promises to add nurses but we have yet to see these
promises implemented. There has been a lack of support up to this point. We cannot
continue to stand idly by in the midst of a worsening crisis.

We call on you to immediately take stronger steps to lock down the province and implement
the suggested changes from ourselves and our colleagues in order to limit the spread of
COVID-19. We need to lessen the burden on our already overstretched healthcare system.
We also call on you to add much needed testing capacity, resources, PPE, and supplies to
our healthcare system quickly to protect us and our patients.

We implore you to not let the warnings of the workers who are holding up our frail health
care system fall on deaf ears. We call you to take the recommendations of ourselves and our
colleagues as a united front seriously. While drastic, they are the only hope our healthcare
system has to not only heal, but survive moving forward. Lives are at stake. Our healthcare
system is at stake. You must act now.

Sincerely,

Nurses Signatures