Like the incessant high-pitched buzz of a mosquito in the darkness of a summer’s night, try as you might, slapping yourself silly, the mosquito triumphs, until such time as you turn on the light in order to quash its very existence.
Like a reoccurring cold, yet another virus has wielded its head. There is no defending against this plague, as you’re aware of its imminent arrival, one is simply not given an itinerary.
Sick time usage.
Health-care services should not be publicly undermined. Health-care workers should stay home when sick.
A hospital setting is hardly a place for ill employees, as it compromises patient safety.
But, alas, the court of public opinion will take the spotlight once again. The plague of sick time usage will have its day in the sun, and the critics will have their 15 minutes of fame.
What they neglect to speak about though is the lack of safety in the health-care environment. In particular, the cause of the injuries has so much to do with the insufficient staffing levels and the ‘attendance management’ strategies where management push the ill to attend work to the detriment of infection control.
When will the conversation change to acknowledge the source of the problem? Sadly, we wait for this to occur and it never does.
Yet, eventually, the hype will settle down, things return to normal, until one day, the python strikes again. It’s venom, enough to make you ill.
Martin Been
Saskatoon
Published in The Star Phoenix, Dec 22, 2017
Letters to the editor, December 22, 2017