I'm glad to hear that.
My questions will actually be for Ms. Shields. Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you to all the witnesses for your testimony. It's very beneficial to us.
Ms. Shields, I want to talk to you more and give you an opportunity to elaborate more on the crisis we're facing in our health care system with respect to mental health.
I'm going to quickly quote. I read an article this afternoon on CBC, which reads:
Rose Mary Buote says she spends her shifts saying sorry—sorry a patient is so sick because a surgery was pushed back, sorry she left a patient's next of kin on hold, sorry she is stretched too thin to provide the care she wants to give.
She feels "so guilty”.
We're all aware that so many health care workers are cracking under the strain of the system. We, as a society and a community, are trying to move past the pandemic, but we have a health care and caregiving force that is exhausted and depleted. We've heard from multiple witnesses that health care workers are depleted and distressed. We are told that rates of severe burnout among health care workers have almost doubled. Recent figures show that 20% of frontline health care workers have thought about suicide and, sadly, 6% had planned an attempt.
Ms. Shields, can you speak and elaborate more and in more detail about what your organization has heard from health care workers?
Thank you.