The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Dear Editor. I would like to take some time to introduce CUPE Local 8600 to our communities. CUPE 8600 members reside in The Pas, Snow Lake and Flin Flon and are the support workers in our hospitals and personal care homes. When you come to a hospital they are the people you don't always see and they are not the first people you think of when you hear the word 'hospital.' They are not nurses or doctors; rather they are the support for the nurses and doctors so that they may do their jobs unencumbered. When you first enter you will meet a CUPE 8600 member, they will direct you to the floor or room you want or take your information so that you may go to emergency. A CUPE 8600 member is the voice in the ceiling you hear calling pages, the voice that summons help to other floors in code Blues. This only touches on the duties of the CUPE 8600 member in the admitting department. You will encounter a smiling face even though they are mopping a floor or cleaning a bathroom and usually many will take the time to say hello. This is also a CUPE 8600 member who will smile as they wax and buff floors so that our hospitals and personal care homes shine. These CUPE 8600 members are people that know the names of the residents in the care homes and take the time to talk or guide them to their rooms, could be your parent or relative that they are helping. These CUPE 8600 members are the housekeepers and do a wonderful job day in and day out. A CUPE 8600 member makes sure the coffee and tea is hot and the food on the plates of patients and residents is the best they can produce. A CUPE 8600 member puts the penned in smiley face on your lunch tray as you lay in a hospital bed or an extra desert for a long time resident, because they know it's their favorite, they are also the ones that wait on you in the cafeteria with a smile. The ice in your water jug... delivered by the dietary department. A CUPE 8600 member brings you towels and clean pajamas every day or helps a resident to wash and dress in the morning and get to the dining room for breakfast. A CUPE 8600 member answers the bell you ring when you need help. They take the time to talk with patients and residents. Sometimes they just sit and hold a hand when someone is sad or needs strength. A CUPE 8600 member is the health care aide working side by side with nurses to care for the sick, injured and elderly. The clean towels, bedding and pajamas... yep CUPE 8600 members. They pick up, sort, wash, and dry, fold and return all the laundry and personal clothing where it belongs. Imagine the amount of garbage generated by a hospital or care home. A CUPE 8600 members picks it up, sorts the recycling and biohazard and disposes of it appropriately. The unit clerk at the desk on the hospital floors is a CUPE 8600 member. The lab receptionist, CUPE 8600; clinic receptionists, CUPE 8600; billing clerks, transcriptionists, CUPE 8600; the duties of these departments is varied and many. The aboriginal liaisons are CUPE 8600 members. The people in the business office... CUPE 8600. Physical Therapy aide, again CUPE 8600. The purchasing department, CUPE 8600 members. The beds, stretchers, linens, bandages _ just about everything in the hospital and many things in the personal care homes have to be ordered and sorted sent to, or delivered to the proper departments. Heat, air conditioning, boilers, carpentry, refrigeration, maintenance, electrician _ again without these CUPE 8600 members our hospitals and care homes would be in sad shape. These CUPE 8600 members are always working and rarely seen. Let's not forget the people who transcribe letters and referrals and do the filing so that all your medical information is in one chart for the doctors and nurses to use in your treatment. The medical records department is staffed with CUPE 8600 members, too. These are the members of CUPE Local 8600 working for our communities. I tip my hat to all of them. Lyla Yaremchuk President, CUPE Local 8600 Flin Flon
