Hospital care during COVID battle was exceptional
By Letter to the Editor on May 26, 2021.
Editor;
For almost two months in February and March 2021, I had the pleasure of spending time at the Lethbridge Regional Hospital, where I was being treated for COVID-19. In that time, I was lucky enough to receive exceptional medical care from the multitude of nurses, support staff and doctors who work there.
 One particular group of helping professionals who made a special contribution to my battle with COVID-19 were a number of ICU nurses.
They took diligent and professional care in making sure I would be successful in battling this mysterious virus. Without their help, I would no doubt not have survived. I am very grateful to Jennifer Neufeld, Don Erickson and Tatiana Westra who saved my life. There is no doubt in my mind that these nurses are some of the finest in Lethbridge.
 Thanks to the care I received from these people, I now have an opportunity to continue living my life.
 I would also like to express my gratitude for all the other nurses who played an important part in my healing journey. They treated me with care and concern, always asking me if I was OK and if I needed anything. There were other times when I would lose my balance and fall on my head (ouch). The nurses would come to my rescue and clean up the mess I had made.
During my hospital stay, I was humbled on many occasions by my behaviour. The nursing staff were so accepting and understanding. I am grateful to them.
 Please share this letter with members of your staff. Lethbridge is lucky to have such exceptional hospital care.
John Hill
Lethbridge
-1
John I had the same experience in Edmonton . Although I didn’t have covid I was treated like a king for the ten days I was in three different hospitals with kidney stones and a severe infection they had trouble eliminating. I knew what they were going through but they were always there for me.
The medical staff in this province are the best and it’s been upsetting to see how they have been treated under these phony conservatives.
Yes, the Registered Nurses mentioned above by Mr. Hill are members of United Nurses of Alberta. Negotiations to renew their contract have been stalled because UNA wants guarantees from the Kenney UCP government that layoffs will not happen. What appears to be the problem is that there seems to be intent by the Kenney UCP to lay off 500 RN positions over 3 years. This really means a job loss of about 750 positions due to job/rotation sharing. After all is said and done after many of these RNs have shed blood, sweat and tears dealing with a massive COVID workload? The Dutch phrase “stank voor dank” comes to mind, i.e. getting screwed over is the thanks they would get. No wonder the AB NDP would win a majority if an election were to be held today.