November 20-28, 2021 is Saskatchewan Multicultural Week. This year, the Multicultural Association of Saskatchewan is asking us to celebrate Saskatchewan Multicultural week by having residents share stories with the hashtag #TogetherWeMakeSaskatchewanStrong.
We couldn't be more proud of our members, so we are highlighting some of our multicultural members this week. Meet Manu.
Laurie is a Medical Radiation Technologist (MRT) who is also a CLXT. She works in a one room X-ray department so there is only one tech working each day. She also has some days where she works in the lab. On weekends and on call, there is one person working in both lab and X-ray.
Blair is a member of the facilities team at his urban hospital. He works as a plumber where he maintains, installs and repairs equipment with a focus on plumbing, heating, cooling and all medical gas equipment. Blair is someone who works behind the scenes to ensure that the hospital is running efficiently and that patient safety is always at its highest level.
Melanie works as a Combined Lab X-ray Technician (CLXT) in rural Saskatchewan in an integrated facility. Being a CLXT involves collecting samples from patients and then running any applicable tests that the requisitions ask for, following up with clerical work and packing up the samples to be batch tested in bigger centres. She also performs X-rays. They still work with older equipment so she also adds chemicals to the machines to keep them operational.
Ryan is a Journeyman Electrician for Chinook School Division in Southwest Saskatchewan. Encouraged to become an electrician by his father, he has been working in the electrical trade for 17 years. Ryan’s job is to fix electrical issues in the schools including lights, plugs, and appliances to ensure they are safe for the students and staff to use. He loves that he is able to travel as part of his job because he’s able to interact with each school community.
Jody works in the Food and Nutrition (F & N) department of an urban hospital as a Storesperson, where she orders food and other kitchen products and then when she receives them, puts them where they belong. Three years ago, when she saw this posting, she thought she’d enjoy it and is happy to report that her instinct was right.
Working during the pandemic was very trying. When the pandemic hit, they weren’t sure what hospitals were going to look like so they prepared for a huge wave. Some days, it was tricky to find space for all the extra food and paper products that were necessary to have on hand to prepare for the unknown. She says that having to wear a mask for the entire day is really difficult.
Joey works at a hospital in Protective Services (formerly Security Services) where he is honored to be able to serve the public.
Nola has been a Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) for the past 11 years, working in the field of Home Care.
Nola goes to people’s houses to provide care such as assisting people to get washed, dressed, transferred to their wheelchairs, toileting, bathing and administering medication, along with other tasks one needs to live independently in their homes.
Working through the pandemic has been crazy because she never knew if she was walking into an contagious setting and faced clients that didn’t believe the pandemic was real. She lived in fear for many months.
Candace works both in the mental health sector and within the community as a Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) for the past 22 years.
Working through the pandemic, she had responsibility put upon her without compensation and lived with constantly changing protocols, procedures and work standards.
Martin is an office clerk at an urban hospital in Saskatchewan.
This past year has been tough on Martin as a health care worker. He has seen the devastation on visitors faces when they learn that they aren’t able to see their loved one due to crucial public health restrictions.
He’s seen the pain on employees' faces as they return to work each day with an increased expectation of their workload, as short staffing runs rampant.