Re. the Feb. 26 column by Michelle Stirling-Anosh, headlined Why we need men in health care:
As a registered nurse working at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, I found this article to be equally insulting to both male and female nurses.
The male nurses that I work with are not valued for their “superior upper body strength, higher levels of testosterone and ability to subdue aggressive or violent patients.”
Nor could they be replaced by males with a criminal record who “know how to fight and can probably quell violent patients better than a flock of women.”
The men I work with are valued for their intelligence and their professional knowledge, which most of the time enables them to deal with potentially violent situations in a way that prevents the violence from actually occurring.
Female nurses can hardly be captured in the words “pretty women dressed in pastel scrubs.”
Yes nursing has been “feminized” in the past, but that was mostly due to inadequate wages that made the profession unattractive. The times have changed.
Female nurses today are mature, capable and professional and we do not need to stand under the constant protection of “high levels of testosterone.”
Every nurse, male and female, brings to their workplace their individual skills and when we work as a team and respect each other, we can make a significant contribution to health care in Alberta.
Stirling-Anosh suggests that we reinstate the male orderly and pay them “competitive wages to compete with oilfield work.”
A special category based on upper body strength, testosterone and the ability to fight. That is not what health care needs.
Males are welcome to enter any level of nursing that they qualify for and get the same compensation as any other person at that level.
I respectfully suggest to Stirling-Anosh that she confine her articles to subjects she has a working knowledge of.
Brenda Corney
Red Deer