Cathy Crowe recently sent a message with a Word attachment to the entire
list. It is generally a bad idea to send an attachment to a list for
several basic reasons:
i) incompatibility of applications - not everyone has Word, particularly
the latest version
ii) increased difficulty for people who are downloading and paying by
time
iii) increased possibility of transmitting viruses, particularly the
Concept virus with Word.
So please, reserve your attachments for direct e-mail to individuals
where you know the conditions they are working with.
Having said that, I have copied Cathy's excellent commentary into a
plain text version below. Her notes are very itneresting and
thought-provoking.
Alison Stirling, cofacilitator, CLICK4HP
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
IN THESE TIMES
What's it like to be a front-line community worker in these times?
Before I answer that question, I should say that I never expected it to
be easy. I graduated from Ryerson in 1985 (Nursing) and knew I would be
heading out to work in inner city Toronto, the "third world" that
Toronto attempts to keep invisible (it's no longer possible). I left
Ryerson enthusiastic and optimistic about my future and well equipped to
face any challenge. And the challenges were many, working in communities
facing poverty, lack of choices, homelessness, hunger and violence,
working as a nurse in a health care system that still undervalues my
work.
But the world of community work has changed drastically since I
graduated. Governments of all levels have made policy decisions that
have eroded Canada's social safety net and the values inherent to social
justice that we took for granted for years. Without doubt, the current
Ontario government takes the prize for most damage to the most number of
people in the shortest amount of time.
To be a community worker these days means not only doing good one-on-one
work but also speaking out to "witness" the damages that we see
inflicted upon people we are working with, while at the same time
working to create solutions. I believe front-line workers in Ontario
have met these challenges. The impact of the government's 21.6% welfare
cuts on families, the escalating number of unnecessary homeless deaths,
intolerable hostel conditions, and the return of tuberculosis are but a
few issues that community workers have highlighted for a public
discourse. Microscopic attention, including by the media, is now paid
to these issues. Committees, reports and research now catalogue the
"impact of the cuts". This lengthy analysis, albeit necessary, borders
on "intellectualizing" the brutality by focusing on what is being done
to "the other" and ignoring that the other is also us.
We need to talk about the front-line workers and not consider it
selfish.
Many front-line workers work in health centres, community centres,
neighbourhood centres, drop-in centres and shelters. Centres that lost
all or a significant amount of their funding in the last two years. Some
organizations no longer exist in their original form. Many workers have
been laid off, faced forced work reductions, lost benefits, and have had
to seek additional work to supplement their income. I would venture to
say their primary workload has continued to rise, in some cases
doubling. Not only does this leave workers doing more, but witnessing
much more serious and painful situations. The number of deaths, for
example, that drop-in workers have had to respond to in the last four
years is unnatural and without precedent - police shootings, freezing
deaths, infant deaths, suicides. Workers are vicariously traumatized by
the tragedy and violence they now confront in their work lives.
Not surprisingly, worker sick time is higher, more front-line workers
suffer from episodes of depression and grief, more are demoralized about
their work, and more are relying on unhealthy coping mechanisms such as
alcohol. At the same time, these committed and dedicated workers often
put in 14 hour days, respond to crises on their days off, and
increasingly act as strong social supports for their clients and
families. They use more of their own personal resources including money,
to assist their clients and their struggling agencies, all the while
facing great financial insecurity of their own. Most front-line workers
in the poverty field do not have the luxury of a union, full benefit
plans, a pension plan or an expense account.
Perhaps even more serious is the code of silence now imposed on workers
by employers. Fearing government backlash in the form of funding cuts,
many community boards and managers have created new media and public
relations policies that tighten and censor information that comes out of
the organization. Expert staff within the organization, once allowed to
be media contacts, or vocal critics are no longer permitted. In several
downtown organizations, staff who were participating in public protest
on their own time were issued warnings from their employer threatening
disciplinary action. I am personally aware of four "firings" related to
this issue. The silencing of workers leaves many feeling powerless and
complicit with the very government they view as a perpetrator.
I don't want to suggest our future is totally bleak, but it is serious.
We need to examine it honestly, and as we prepare new workers to enter
the field we must ask ourselves how we can insert energy, hope and a
fighting spirit into the theory and practice of course curriculum.
Cathy Crowe, RN, colloquially known as a street nurse. Always a health
promoter.
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