Unit Assistants and Unit Support Workers wear many hats within our healthcare facilities. It’s a role that seems to accumulate all the odds and ends of their units, and nothing is too big of an ask for them. If you think that sounds like a challenge, just talk to our profiled member, Angela, who handles all of this with organization and patience.
Angela has worked in a rural long term care facility for ten years, and has spent five of them as a Unit Assistant (UA). She was inspired to work in this field because she felt long term care was a place she could really make a difference. Based on the range of her position, Angela certainly does make a difference, not only to her residents, but to the coworkers within the facility as well. In a day, Angela does filing and charting, admissions and discharges, processes orders, sets up appointment and transfers, corresponds with family members, answers phones, photocopies documents, and helps coworkers with their paperwork.
We know how special Unit Assistants and Unit Support Workers are to our health care team, so we made a week to celebrate them! Unit Support Workers (USWs) may not be a classification in a hospital that you know much about, so we profiled one of our members, Mandie, to showcase the vital role they play.
Few people fall into their chosen profession early in life. When Corey was in high school, the fire department of his small town was recruiting volunteers to assist at the fire hall. He fell in love with the adrenaline rush, and eleven years later, is the Team Leader for paramedics in his facility. Corey has various professional firefighting certificates and has taken Primary Care Paramedic training. After a few years, he completed his Advanced Care Paramedic Training and now works in the southwest of the province.
Few jobs can be as inspiring, thankless, tiring, and meaningful as being a Disability Service Professional (DSP), or Disability Support Worker (DSW). This week we highlight our amazing DSPs and DSWs and thank them for their amazing work. We have many facilities that include these classifications, primarily in our Community Based Organizations, or CBOs.
Our profiled member, Chinchu, has worked in an urban community home for over 5 years. She obtained her Disability Support Worker Certificate and has added Professional Assault Response Training (PART) and Transfer-Lift-Repositioning (TLR) Training through her workplace, which are very useful, as Chinchu doesn’t always know what her day will bring. The ability to go with the flow is a must in this field.
Few people get to take pride in their town by taking pride in their work, but that is the entire goal of public works. Today is National Public Works Day, the time for us all to acknowledge our diligent public works employees. Mark works in Public Works Maintenance in a town in the southwest of the province, and everyday Mark and his coworkers strive to keep things in their town running smoothly. Marks has many different roles in his position, depending on the time of year. During the winter he maintains streets and sidewalks, removing snow and keeping roadways clear. In the summer, Mark keeps busy with street sweeping, and keeping the town clean. But he must always be ready for any town emergencies that may come his way.
This week is National Biomedical/ Clinical Engineering Week! If you think that title sounds interesting, you would be correct. That is exactly how our profiled Biomedical Engineering Technologist, Doug, ended up in this field. Doug met someone in this line of work and thought it sounded interesting. After 2 years of schooling Doug began working in the field, and 19 years later he can’t imagine a better fit for a career. Doug works in an urban acute care setting where he must continue to update his education by taking various courses on specific pieces of equipment as they are released.
Doug starts his day in the OR to see if there are any problems that require his immediate attention. After they have been addressed, Doug continues through the hospital to find equipment for preventive maintenance. It is this helpful problem solving that is Doug’s favourite part of his job. “It is very satisfying to make another person’s day go smoothly, I feel like I really contribute to how the hospital runs and cares for patients in those moments, albeit from behind the scenes,” Doug says.
Cheryl is an LPN in a rural acute care facility.
When COVID hit she thought, “We’ve got this!”
But they didn’t... they had nothing.
There must have been a greater force at work when Caroline applied for a job in her urban childcare facility. She sent in what she describes as “just a random application for a job that turned into my career.” Fifteen years and a pandemic later, Caroline is still as excited about her job as when she began.
Amanda has been a Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) for home care for almost twenty years . She assists clients with medications, helps them get dressed, assists with baths, applies compression stockings, assists with colostomy bags and catheters, and she visits with them when time permits.
Amanda chose this career after volunteering at an urban hospital when she was in high school. She loves getting to know her clients and their families and helping to keep clients in their own homes as long as possible. She takes pride in offering peace of mind to the families of those she cares for, that their loved ones are in caring, capable hands.
Tracy is an SEIU-West member who works at an urban childcare facility in the south of the province. This is the time to appreciate all that she does for the children in her community, Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day.
In a day, Tracy provides care for ten toddlers, but it’s so much more than that. Tracy spends her time feeding, playing with, and nurturing children in a way that will make a difference in their lives. Spending time with children is something Tracy is passionate about and has been doing for 10 years. Every day is a new day, and there is always something to learn and someone to inspire.