Low wages forcing nurses out of sexual assault program

Experts in the field say low wages are driving nurses out of Ontario's sexual assault program and leaving victims without care.

Last Sunday, a young Ottawa woman had to travel to Renfrew to have a rape kit administered because there was no trained nurse available at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital.

Sheila Macdonald, who runs the provincial program that trains nurses in examining victims of sexual assault, said such incidents are becoming more common.

"It's happening with increasing frequency," she said.

"The only reason it hasn't happened more is that the program coordinators are filling in all the blanks in the schedule."

Macdonald said low wages areforcing nurses trained to administerrape kitsto find work elsewhere.

"This role is unique and specialized nurses need to be trained, and nurses are poorly compensated," she said.

"When we're on call for our service, I dedicate myself for that time period. I can't work somewhere else, I can't go to a movie or out for dinner because at any moment I could get paged in to work and the on-call pay for nurses is $3.20 an hour."

Vicki McKenna, vice-president of the Ontario Nurses Association, said the Ottawa Hospital hasn't taken the issue seriously enough.

She said many cities have dropped the on-call system in favour of permanent staffing.

"Coincidentally, this Monday a new job posting has gone up," she said.

"I find it unacceptable that it would take a situation like that to add additional nurses."

McKenna said in addition to the low pay they receive on call, Ottawa's sexual assault nurses also sometimes have to fight to get paid for time they spend testifying in court.