It’s a very wet day in Sydney but that didn’t stop hundreds of nurses joining the rally outside Parliament House in Sydney to protest against the O’Farrell Government’s proposed cuts to workers compensation.
Nurse Emily Orchard was one of three injured workers – the others were a policeman and a crane driver – who spoke to the crowd.
You can watch her speech below.
You can also see photos of the sodden rally on our Flickr site.
Video/image credit: NSWNA
The topic of workplace injury aside …
I think the ‘scrubs’ look is out of place at conferences, seminars and in the general public arena.
We [Pakistan Labour Federation] are fully supporting the demands of the nurses and assure our full cooperation. One of our affiliates Pakistan Para Medical Staff Association (PPMA) a national organization of hospital employees in Pakistan is also supporting the Nurses (Email: ppmaplf@yahoo.com)
We also recommend exchange of delegation between PPMA and your Nurses Organisation in future for solidarity to support each other.
Malik Munir Ahmad
President
Pakistan Para Medical Staff Association
Government Jinnha Hospital
Lahore, Pakistan
I have to agree with Gordo about the scrubs. I hope when the new uniforms are released we have a choice of scrubs or a corporate outfit.
The NSWNA scrubs are for nurses to wear during meetings and rallies, as worn by Emily in this photo. They make nurses instantly identifiable as nurses in large public gatherings. They aren’t a work uniform.
So, what was wrong with the NSWNA rugby jumper?
Wasn’t that always THE Nurses’ identifier?
What makes ‘scrubs’ the choice of nurses? Who made THAT decision?
What makes ‘scrubs’ wearers any more of a ‘nurse’ than me wearing a corporate uniform, or even ‘plain clothes’?
Can’t I simply wear a distinctive T-shirt, or wave a placard around, if I want to be identified as a Nurse at a rally ???
Next thing, you will be telling me I must wear a skirt !!!
Obviously, you can wear whatever you like to a rally.
NSWNA still has the rugby jumper as part of our merchandise.
Scrubs are easily identifiable and are easily worn by men and women of all shapes and sizes (over the top of other clothes, in winter).
NSWNA scrubs are available at: https://www.totalimagegrouponline.com/nswnurses
You were lucky they looked after you. I remember when I got injured at work transferring a patient. I was out of work for 18 months then forced back to full duties on a heavy ward. Less than 12 months later my injury was exacerbated and I was forced to work in a back brace.
The staff I worked with bullied me every day, claimed I was lazy and falsified complaints about me. I called the ANF and the rep that came out to see me was unsupportive and said it was my fault. Every day I went to work and the bullying got worse. I remember coming home in tears from work every night and in the mornings as I was getting ready for work I would throw up. My weight dropped below 43kg because of the stress and eventually I had to stop work because I was in so much pain.
Each week Work Cover would send me a letter threatening to cut my payments if I didn’t do whatever they wanted. I went to see a lawyer that the ANF recommended and he said that I had to go back to work or I could lose my job. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing as I was in so much pain and I couldn’t work with the medication I had to take. So I sought another opinion and commenced legal proceedings.
Work Cover dragged the case out for years and when it went to court they claimed that I had two separate injuries rather than an exacerbation of an injury. The result was they won the case and applauded what they had done to me. As for me I was thrown onto a disability pension and had to get treatment from my local public hospital.
I have never owned a home and probably never will. Basically I don’t have much of a life, just an existence. I only ever wanted to be a good person and help others; so I have no idea why I was treated this way. One day my pain will end and I will go to a far far better place.
The other day I read an article about a man who has a 19 year old dog with arthritis. In order to get the dog to sleep, the man takes it to the river every night and nurses it in his arms. He said the warm water helps ease the dogs’ arthritic pain and it falls asleep in his arms. His friend took a photo of him nursing his dog in the water and put it on the internet. Thousands of people viewed the picture and donated money so that the dog could get treatment. A women even paid for the dog to receive specialized treatment. Now the man has no worries because the required therapy has been fully paid and he has over $200,000 in donations for his 19 year old dog. It is a pity that we don’t have as much compassion for humans.