Steve Foley, President of the CUPE Health Care Council, says the designation of the week is a positive way to recognize the important role support staff play in health care delivery in Saskatchewan.
The union will celebrate the event with a cake-cutting ceremony in Regina on Wednesday, November 8, at 2 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the Ramada Hotel and involve about 200 support staff participating in the unions annual health care conference.
Although support staff ensure our health system works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there has been little recognition of their work in the health care system, Foley says.
Support staff work on the front line of health care delivery, providing valuable services in hospitals, health care centres, long-term care facilities and home care. They work as dietary, laundry and housekeeping aides, x-ray and lab technicians, Licensed Practical Nurses, maintenance staff, cleaners, clerical workers, special care aides and home care aides.
Health Care Support Workers Week will help to publicize the positions of support staff on the health care team, says Foley. It will also help to make the public more aware that our health care system just couldnt work without them, he says.
CUPE represents about 12,000 health care support workers in Saskatchewan.
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For further information contact: Steve Foley at 525-5874.