Contests

In addition to Education Week this week, SEIU-West is proud to recognize and celebrate Facilities and Engineering Week!

The work of our members in Facilities and Engineering is crucial to the success of the health care team and positive outcomes for those they care for.  We need heating, water and lighting systems to be well-organized and operational; this is required to support quality health care environments that patients, residents, visitors and staff rely on. The SEIU-West members who make up the Facilities and Engineering department ensure our health care environments are safe, comfortable, and efficient.

Members who work in Facilities and Engineering work in a variety of fields including:  Building and Energy Maintenance, Construction, Waste Management, Groundskeeping and Landscaping, and Clinical and Plant Engineering. 

SEIU-West Facilities and Engineering workers are a vital part of efficient health care work environments – none of us could successfully complete our jobs without them! So in honor of our members who work in Facilities and Engineering, we are holding a contest and you can nominate a member of the Facilities and Engineering team who really makes a difference in your workplace.  It could be their positive attitude, their awesome work, or the way they support the whole health care team.

Please send in your nominations, along with a sentence or two as to why they deserve to win to [email protected] by October 27, 2019. Your nominee could win one of several great prizes!

SEIU-West members who work as Pharmacy Technicians are a vital part of our public health care team; they prepare, check and distribute medications and pharmacy supplies to ensure people are safely supplied their prescribed medications or over the counter medicines. They also help share relevant patient information with other health care professionals when requested.

Pharmacy Technicians assist Pharmacists, patients, residents and clients requiring medications which in turn, makes our communities healthier places to live and work. Thank you Pharmacy Technicians for your valuable work!  

To celebrate Pharmacy Technician Day, SEIU-West asks that you to participate in the Pharmacy Technician Day Contest!

With the election around the corner, Pharmacare is a big election issue. As many health care providers would agree, it is essential for people to be able to access their prescribed medications. However, without a universal drug plan, many people cannot afford their medications and end up skipping or splitting their medications. This leads to worsened health and often, with more people in the emergency room. So in recognition of the importance of Pharmacy Technicians and the work they do to provide prescribed medications, tell us: why is Pharmacare important to you? Email your answers to [email protected] by October 22, 2019 for your chance to win a great prize!

SEIU-West members who work in MDR, Security and the CLXT classification are necessary to the health care team because they help to ensure safe and quality health care provision.

Health care providers who work in MDR protect and strengthen patient safety by ensuring health care equipment is dependable, clean and effective. They inspect, assemble, sterilize, and decontaminate health care equipment – they must therefore be highly detailed in their work and meet great physical demands. Through the hard work of those who work in MDR, health care patients can expect excellence in their care.

Health care workers who work in Security are at the frontline when it comes to patient and staff care. As in any health care setting, unexpected situations can occur – Security Officers are there to provide and ensure a safe environment. Security Officers must be attentive to detail because part of their job is preventive patrol and inspection as this helps to determine whether conditions are normal. They must also be well-prepared and have the ability to respond quickly and appropriately to any number of security emergencies occurring within a health care setting.

CLXTs are vital to the success of quality and safe health care. By performing X-ray exams, Electrocardiograms (ECG) and Holter monitoring, these hard working health care technicians ensure patients receive the best care available. The role of a CLXT is to provide diagnostic tools that the entire health team relies on because they assist in the proper diagnosis and treatment of patients. CLXT’s will procure and analyze specimens, and prepare patients before any lab and x-ray procedures.

It is evident that health care providers who work in the MDR, Security, and CLXT departments are essential to safety and quality care. To recognize their value, SEIU-West is happy to announce a recognition contest!

Complete the MDR, Security, and CLXT Week Wordsearch by October 21 for your chance to win a great prize! Email your completed wordsearches to [email protected] – good luck!

The members of SEIU-West who work in Food Services are central to ensuring patients, residents, and clients have their nutritional needs met when receiving care. They also make sure all staff and visitors have access to their delicious meals that are prepared with high-quality hygienic standards.

In a health care setting, various resident and patient needs must be taken into account – our professional Food Services members make sure that food allergies and dietary needs are taken into account to safeguard against possible complications that can cause set-backs in recovery and impact a person’s overall health.

It’s clear those who work in Food Services are a vital part of the health care team and in recognition, we’re launching our Food Services Week contest!

With Fall in the air, people are increasingly in the mood for comfort foods and warm meals. So for this contest we ask you to tell us: what’s your favourite comfort food? Bonus points for sending a picture of a comfort meal made by a member in Food Services!

By entering, you could win a gift card or movie pass!

Email [email protected] to enter – the deadline is October 15!

And don't miss our CTV ad airing this week across Saskatchewan in celebration of Food Services Week! You can check out that ad on our YouTube page here. 

SEIU-West is happy to be back at the Festival of Trees in Saskatoon this year! Thousands of visitors to the Festival are delighted when they arrive to see a collection of beautifully decorated trees, sponsored by various organizations including our very own SEIU-West tree.

SEIU-West is particularly excited to see that the proceeds of the Festival will benefit patients and staff at Saskatoon City Hospital!

As is our tradition with this Festival, we want to support this great cause with a contest! We know decorating a tree is a wonderful way to spread holiday cheer – that’s why we’re holding a contest to determine who will be our SEIU-West Tree Decorating Team! If your team wins, you’ll all be invited to join the decorating day at the Western Development Museum on November 21 helping to make our union’s tree, “Wrapped in Purple”, become a reality! All your lost wages and expenses will be covered by SEIU-West! Decorations will also be provided.

How to enter?

• Teams can be no more than 2-4 people, and all team members must work at the same facility.
• As a team, we ask that you answer the following questions:

• • Why does your team think SEIU-West is the best union in Saskatchewan?
  • How does your team build solidarity and Purple Pride at your workplace?

Send your team answers to [email protected]

Deadline?

The deadline to enter is November 3, 2019.

Bonus!

The winning team will not only get to decorate the tree, but they’ll also have a chance to win the SEIU-West decorated tree that will be on display at the Festival of Trees to showcase at their workplace!

Therapy Assistants who are members of SEIU-West typically work as Occupational Therapy Assistants and/or Physiotherapy Assistants (OTPT).  These members of the health care team work to improve their client’s quality of life by supporting their ability to maximize movement, which contributes significantly to their client’s everyday activities. This vital part of their job rehabilitates their clients to their peak abilities. Another key skill that Therapy Assistants must have is their ability to communicate. Many of their clients have diverse needs, so it is important for Therapy Assistants to recognize these differences and accommodate accordingly.

Therapy Assistants utilize a variety of tools to assist their clients such as tilt tables, parallel bars and lifts, as well as pools due to the benefits of physical movement under water.

The work of Therapy Assistants is fundamental to the health care team as they help improve the confidence and lives of those who they care for.

To show our appreciation of the valuable contributions Therapy Assistants makes to our health care team, we are launching our Therapy Assistants Contest!

To enter, tell us why Therapy Assistants are important to you – whether you’re a coworker or a client, there are so many reasons Therapy Assistants bring value to our lives! Email your answers to [email protected] by September 26, 2019 for your chance to win one of several awesome prizes!

For the week of September 8-14, SEIU-West is proud to celebrate Environmental Services Week!

Environmental Service Workers (ESWs) have a vital role on the health care team.  They provide professional services that ensure our health care environments are clean and safe. ESWs understand the importance of infection control for patients, clients, residents and staff, especially in a health care setting. They therefore have the skills to provide quality housekeeping while following infection control practices to reduce the risks to all those who live, work, and visit a health care environment.

The daily responsibilities of ESWs also involves heavy lifting and the use of dangerous substances. They know how to safely handle these everyday challenges while protecting themselves and those around them. We are proud to celebrate the health care heroes that are ESWs and in recognition, we are holding a contest so that you can nominate an ESW who really makes a difference in your workplace. Maybe it is the way they brighten everyone’s day, the incredible job they do, or the care and concern they demonstrate to residents, patients or co-workers.

Please send in your nominations, along with a sentence or two as to why they deserve to win to [email protected] by September 19, 2019. Your nominee could win one of several great prizes!

SEIU-West is proud to be a union that supports and lives by social unionism – we understand our role is not just to improve the working lives of our members, but to improve the communities in which we live as well.

The basis of social unionism also translates to a strong and progressive union culture and a commitment to work in collaboration with allies, both here at home and around the world.

In that sense, we strive to support and get involved in community events and organizations striving for social justice. It is our members that lead the way – they volunteer, organize, and get involved in both their union and communities every day – in other words, Purple Works In Our Communities!

In recognition of the volunteer work of our members, we have a new contest with an awesome prize!

The Saskatoon & District Labour Council (SDLC) has generously given SEIU-West a ‘Vacation of the Month’ ticket as a result of our efforts in supporting the Summer Snack Program – a vital program that ensures kids in need have access to lunch outside of the in-school months in Saskatoon.

This ‘Vacation of the Month’ ticket has a $120 value and enters you into monthly draws for amazing vacations! For example, the September 2019 vacation draw is a choice between seven (7) nights hotel and air to Cabo (Mexico) or seven (7) nights hotel and air and to Waikiki (Oahu Island, Hawaii)!

For your chance to win this ticket, we ask that you tell us:  how do you volunteer in your community? Email [email protected] by July 28, 2019 for your chance to win!

You do not have to live in Saskatoon to be able to enter this contest but you must be a member of SEIU-West.

3sHealth Employee Benefits wants to help you make these simple changes with the “Path to Health” contest. From June 10 to September 1, 2019, you can follow your own path to health and win fabulous prizes. All you have to do each day is go for a walk, eat a salad, or get a good night’s sleep – then enter to win!

That’s it! Just be sure you’re doing at least one of these things each week.

Use the entry form here to check off what you did that week.  Your name will then be entered into the weekly prize draw.

SEIU-West is proud to recognize the vital role Unit Support Workers (USWs) and Unit Assistants (UAs) have on our health care team.

USWs, like SEIU-West member Indira, provide assistance to a Unit or Department by portering patients and residents, maintaining inventory, and ensuring the area is clean. They ensure supplies are well stocked by both ordering and organizing supplies – this responsibility is crucial to the success of the provision of good care. Cleaning patient/resident equipment and disposing of unsanitary items is also required as health care environments must be as sanitary as possible to prevent infection. Indira especially loves interacting with patients and families from all walks of life – she appreciates the daily learning she gains from these interactions. It is clear USWs have a role that everyone in the Unit or Department relies on, and we can’t thank them enough for their incredible work on the health care team!

UAs, like SEIU-West member Wanda, are often the first people you see when members of the public enter a Unit or Department in a health care environment. UAs will greet you and answer the telephone when you call. They often book appointments and provide travel coordination for patients. UAs process physician orders as well, such as sending paperwork or filing requisitions. UAs are excellent multi-taskers as they perform many levels of clerical duties such as report distribution, the maintenance of various health care manuals, and data entry. They are regularly called to help with cleaning, ordering supplies, and portering as well. Wanda especially loves the clerking part of her job, and appreciates the work she does with to support doctors. Thank you for your daily efforts to ensure our health care environments are well taken care of!

In recognition of USW/UA week, we encourage you to participate in our contest! Tell us why USW’s and UA’s are important to you – email your answer to [email protected] by June 17 and you’ll be entered to win some amazing prizes:

• Frontier Days: Swift Current (sponsored by the SEIU-West Young Workers Committee!)
  • 4 June 26th Passes: (Includes general admission, Fresh Air Cinema Dumbo Movie in the Grandstand)
  • 2 June 28th Passes: (Includes general admission, Rodeo, Colter Wall & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
  • 2 June 29th Passes: (Includes general admission, Mini Chuckwagon & Heavy Horse Pulls)
  • 2 rodeo Passes
  • A large gift basket (pictured here)
  • One of two $50 giftcards to Rock Creek Tap and Grill

In recognition of World Environment Day on June 5, your SEIU-West Young Workers Committee (YWC) encourages you to get involved in the daily efforts that are calling for a sustainable planet for current and future generations.

Every week, young people from around the world have been taking a lead in climate change awareness by striking against climate inaction, a tactic those in the labour movement are very familiar with. These strikes are a part of a larger movement that began in 2018 when Greta Thunberg, a teenager from Sweden, led the first student’s climate strike. Over time, her actions gained more attention and now, we’re seeing kids walk out of school on Fridays for the aptly named, Fridays for Future, in the hopes that our governments around the world will listen.  In countless reports, kids are telling us they’re fighting for their lives as they take to the streets to demand action on climate change. They are aware that they will bear the brunt of climate change impacts, and they want to see immediate action by decision makers.

In late 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report that warned that without serious, coordinated international cooperation and action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, it is almost certain our planet would warm by over 1.5 degrees Celsius – the impacts of this warming would be catastrophic. In order to prevent the coinciding drought, floods, extreme heat and ill-health that would come with going beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need to take big steps to reduce our emissions by 2030 – just 11 years from now.  

People around the world are listening to these kids and developing plans like the Green New Deal, “a bold and far reaching plan to cut emissions in half in 11 years in line with Indigenous knowledge and climate science, create more than a million good jobs you can support a family with, and build inclusive communities in the process.” Recently, hundreds of communities across Canada held Green New Deal Town Halls, and the people are developing the Deal to improve our future. 

These Town Halls contained brainstorming for both blue line ideas and green line ideas – the blue line ideas represent individual actions we can take, like talking to our neighbours about the impacts of climate change, reducing/eliminating the use of plastic, or composting. The blue line ideas are big picture/policy ideas and the results from this line are the ones that can make the big difference – fair taxation to fund a transition to renewable energy, creating nationalized public transit, re-training for affected fossil fuel workers, ending fossil fuel subsidies, or getting involved in CUPW’s Delivering Community Power initiative.

The SEIU-West YWC knows you need to take both individual and systemic action to address our climate crisis, so in recognition of World Environment Day, the SEIU-West is hosting a challenge and by entering, you’ll be entered to win some awesome prizes!

Tell us: what ideas do you have to create the big change we need to address climate change (green line)? And what steps have you made or are currently making at home or at work that will help to improve our planet (blue line)?

Send [email protected] your green blue/green ideas for your chance to win:

• Frontier Days Swift Current:
  • 4 June 26th Passes: (Includes general admission, Fresh Air Cinema Dumbo Movie in the Grandstand)
  • 2 June 28th Passes:  (Includes general admission, Rodeo, Colter Wall & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
  • 2 June 29th Passes:  (Includes general admission, Mini Chuckwagon & Heavy Horse Pulls)
  • 2 rodeo Passes
• A large gift basket (pictured here)
• One of two $50 giftcards to Rock Creek Tap and Grill 

Deadline to enter: June 16, 2019

And please visit the Saskatchewan Environmental Society and/or Climate Justice Saskatoon for more information – these organizations are always looking to grow! It is also important that you support workers affected by climate action. Please visit Iron and Earth, an organization of oil sands workers who want to transition into renewable energy development. If you know someone who works in the oil sands, please share this initiative with them in the hopes we can have a similar organization in Saskatchewan!

Each June, SEIU-West celebrates Pride Month to support all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two spirit, questioning and queer people in Saskatchewan and around the world! As a union that strives to achieve a more just society for all, we ask that you join us in celebrating the contributions to social justice the LGBT2Q+ movement has achieved.

This year is a particularly momentous Pride Month as 2019 commemorates the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a historic uprising that is widely considered to be a vital event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern struggle for LGBT2Q+ rights in North America. Within two years of the Stonewall uprising, LGBT2Q+ rights groups were formed all over America, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Today, the legacy of the Stonewall Riots lives on around the world in every pride march, celebration, and struggle to achieve LGBT2Q+ equality and justice. 

In recognition of Pride Month, we encourage you to join Pride Month activists around the province - check out Saskatoon Pride, Queen City Pride and in rural communities, check out Saskatchewan Pride Network’s events for more information on what’s happening around Saskatchewan.

And if you’re interested in marching in the Saskatoon Pride Parade, let us know by emailing [email protected]! SEIU-West will have a group of purple to show our pride at this event on June 22. 

In recognition of Pride Month, we are also holding a SEIU-West Pride Contest! In order to be entered to win, here’s what you have to do:

1. Send a selfie of you at a local Pride event to [email protected] OR
2. Write a few sentences why or/and how you celebrate Pride Month
3. BONUS: do both 1 and 2 to get two entries into the draw!

Those who participate will be entered to win one of the following:

• Frontier Days: Swift Current (sponsored by the SEIU-West Young Workers Committee!)
  • 4 June 26th Passes: (Includes general admission, Fresh Air Cinema Dumbo Movie in the Grandstand)
  • 2 June 28th Passes:  (Includes general admission, Rodeo, Colter Wall & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
  • 2 June 29th Passes:  (Includes general admission, Mini Chuckwagon & Heavy Horse Pulls)
  • 2 rodeo Passes
• A large gift basket (pictured here)
• One of two $50 giftcards to Rock Creek Tap and Grill 

Deadline to enter: July 14, 2019

Good Luck!