As Nursing Week gets underway in Ontario, we’re learning that Ontario nurses are facing a ten-fold surge in stress.

There is a call for the governing PCs at Queen’s Park to provide more compensation for nurses, protective equipment, mental health supports, beds and more nursing jobs, in addition to ensuring nurses are fully vaccinated.

Two large surveys done for two of the unions which represent nurses paint a dire picture of how nurses in Toronto and across the province are being affected by the pandemic.

One of the unsettling results in one of the surveys is that 40-percent of registered practical nurses in Toronto say they are considering or may leave nursing.

On a related issue, Ontario Nurses Association President Vicki McKenna is calling for the pay of nurses to better reflect their work during the pandemic.

According to a widely circulated memo, a doctor redeployed to work in an intensive care unit would get $385 an hour and $450 dollars an hour during the overnight shift. But McKenna says a registered nurse with 25 years of experience makes about $48 an hour wherever and whenever they work.