News & Updates

HSA members in Region 8 have elected Kevin Towhey to serve a two-year term as their representative on the union’s Board of Directors. Towhey is a medical radiation technologist at Royal Inland Hospital.This is Towhey’s first term on the union’s Board of Directors. He currently serves as the Chief Steward at Royal Inland Hospital.The other candidate for the board position...

HSA members in Region 6 have elected Nancy Hay to serve a two-year term as their representative on the union’s Board of Directors. Hay is a social worker at St. Paul’s and Lions Gate Hospitals.This is Hay’s first term on the union’s Board of Directors. She currently serves as the Chief Steward at St. Paul’s Hospital.The other candidate for the...

HSA members in Region 4 have re-elected Joseph Sebastian to serve another two-year term as their representative on the union’s Board of Directors. Sebastian is a medical radiation technologist at Vancouver Hospital.Sebastian first joined the union’s Board of Directors in April 2014. He has served on the Occupational Health and Safety and Constitutional and Organization Policy committees, and has served...

HSA members in Region 2 have re-elected Derrick Hoyt to serve another two-year term as their representative on the union’s Board of Directors. Hoyt is a pathologist’s assistant at Royal Jubilee Hospital.Hoyt first joined the union’s board of directors in November 2013. He has served on the Constitutional and Organizational Policy Committee (COPS) and Committee for Equality and Social Action...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 BY LAURA BUSHEIKIN It's not my business. That's what Marjan Szlivka thought when she first heard that registered psychiatric nurses within HSA were being raided by BCNU. In her work as a physiotherapist at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, Szlivka didn't work with RPNs, and their situation wasn't on her radar. But once she...

A summary of the tentative agreement 2014 – 2019 for the Nurses Bargaining Association, and instructions on how to vote on the agreement, will be mailed to all NBA members shortly. Mail ballots must be returned to HSA by the end of the day on Friday, May 6. Read the full ratification vote information package being mailed to members Read...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 In April 2015, at a workshop prior to HSA's last convention, Trina Nguyen heard something that startled her. "It was a workshop on HSA's work to raise awareness around domestic violence," says Nguyen," and someone told a story about a young woman who was afraid she might have been sexually assaulted after having too much...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 It's often said that stewards are the backbone of our union, and like any backbone, it works best with adequate support. As part of the 2020 Strategic Plan, and following dicussions at recent conventions, HSA stewards have been meeting to talk about the work they do, the challenges they face, and the resources they need...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 CHANGES TO BC LAW WILL REQUIRE MORE EMPLOYEES TO SUBMIT MANDATORY FINGERPRINTS The Criminal Records Review Act provides for mandatory fingerprinting for those employed by health authorities and who work with children or vulnerable adults. The program requires the employee to submit fingerprints to confirm identity if there is an applicant who has a match...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2016 A CANCER CLUSTER IS FOUND HSA members Katrina Hammer and Anne MacFarlane, and HEU member Patricia Schmidt, all worked in the laboratory at Mission Memorial Hospital. All three contracted breast cancer, and an investigation into the cancer identified there was a cancer cluster in the laboratory – where the incidence of breast cancer was eight...