News & Updates

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by SARAH O'LEARY Q: How will the new Employment Insurance provisions affect me? A: In the 2000 federal budget, the Liberal government introduced some changes to the Employment Insurance Act. Bill C-32: An Act to Implement Certain Provisions of the Budget was tabled in parliament on February 28, 2000. These changes will...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by RICK LAMPSHIRE The collective bargaining process for health science professionals has begun. HSAs bargaining proposal conference held November 15 through 17 was a huge success; participants worked hard, and were prepared to make difficult decisions to identify the priority issues of our membership. We will present a tight, focused package to...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by BRIAN ISBERG No matter how much the Capital Health Region or any other region amalgamates, consolidates, restructures, reorganizes or regionalizes, it will not get past the underlying fact that there are not enough health science professionals to continue providing quality patient care in the present environment - let alone in one...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by CINDY STEWART Whats it going to take? Hard work and determination on the part of each and every health professional that HSA represents. In mid-November, delegates to HSAs Paramedical Professional Bargaining Conference met to determine the priorities for HSAs10,000 health science professionals in the upcoming round of negotiations. The conference coincided...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 HSA is a member-run union governed by a Board of Directors. The Board is composed of one member elected from each of ten regions around the province, and a President elected by delegates at Annual Convention. When you elect your Regional Director, you are casting a vote for your representative who is...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 In mid-November, when delegates to HSAs paramedical professional bargaining conference sat down to their first day, they faced two immense tasks. The first was examining and evaluating over 600 proposals submitted by members from around the province. The second was narrowing the list of proposals, and setting strategic priorities for bargaining in...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 by RACHEL NOTLEY Medical radiation technologists tend to experience symptoms of respiratory illness at a higher rate than do physiotherapists. Thats the conclusion of a recent comparative study by researchers at UBC. The authors of the study, Helen Ward and Michelle Wymer, describe symptoms which include bronchial hyper-responsiveness, wheezing, shortness of breath...

The Report: January / February 2001 vol.22 num.1 Members identify workload, ergonomics as key issues by YUKIE KURAHASHI Every day, each cytotechnologist at the BC Cancer Agency's Cervical Cancer Screening Program scrutinizes 85 slides, with the knowledge that each slide may carry information that could profoundly affect the life of a woman somewhere in the province. The BC Cancer Agency's...

Union president says increased training spaces will help address shortage of x-ray technologists but more needs to be doneThe Health Science Association of BC, the province's third largest health care union, is pleased that the provincial government's new health care strategy includes a plan to train more x-ray technologists.HSA president Cindy Stewart says the plan demonstrates that the government has...

British Columbia's acute shortage of health science professionals is leaving some BC communities without access to critical health services. Physiotherapy, pharmacy, radiation therapy and ultrasound are just some of the professions where shortages are particularly severe.To raise awareness about this growing problem, the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia (HSA) is launching a province-wide campaign calling on government, health authorities...