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Saskatoon hospital staff members have reported a number of assaults and incidents as they walk long distances to and from their car. These repeated incidents have shone a light on the lack of safe, on-site parking for hospital staff. As a result, many healthcare workers are forced to park in residential areas near each of the three acute care facilities in Saskatoon. The lack of safe and suitable parking for healthcare workers represents a safety concern for staff and causes unnecessary frustration for residents who live in these areas.
In addition to the risk of assault or harassment, healthcare workers face additional concerns relating to the risk of injury or accident during a long walk on un-shoveled residential streets, or on streets in which snow has not been cleared or removed. These risks are taken daily, at the beginning and end of long, demanding shifts. Our frontline healthcare workers simply deserve better.
Public transit is simply not functional for many, as transit hours often do not correspond with shift hours. Many frontline healthcare workers hold the primary, or sole, responsibility for delivering their children to and from daycare. This task is difficult as shift workers, and virtually impossible to achieve using public transit.
Additionally, long term care facilities face additional challenges relating to parking. Scramble parking, in which staff can pay for a permit to park in a lot without guarantee of actually having a place to park, places many long term care facility staff in a similar situation of having to find parking within a residential area near their place of work.
We, the undersigned, call on the Saskatchewan Health Authority to implement a Park & Ride shuttle service for employees at RUH, City Hospital, and St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon as an interim measure until suitable onsite parking facilities can be constructed. The SHA has implemented a Park & Ride program at the Regina General Hospital, which demonstrates that they can implement a similar program in Saskatoon. For this program to be fair and equitable, it must:
- Include regularly scheduled shuttle services linked to standard shift hours
- Offer the ability to access shuttle service or taxi vouchers for service when required outside of standard shuttle hours
- Utilize a well lit offsite location
- Utilize an offsite location with available electric outlets
- Allow for meaningful participation and input from staff and unions through a series of roundtable meetings
- Be offered on a cost recovery basis and should not provide the opportunity for a private entity, or the SHA, to earn profits at the expense of healthcare workers.
We the undersigned request a review and audit of the existing parking permit holders at each of these facilities, with consideration given to:
- those physically working on site
- those who are critical to patient care
- those whose regular work hours are outside of regular daylight hours.
Click here for a copy of the petition to print and sign.