Windsor nurses’ reunion shines light on today’s health care challenges

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A group of nurses reunited on Saturday to celebrate 55 years since their graduation from the former Hôtel-Dieu of St. Joseph hospital, once located in downtown Windsor.

About 20 nurses from the graduating class of 1969, bonded since their early years in the profession, gathered at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to mark the anniversary with a tour led by CEO and president Bill Marra and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.

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While the day celebrated the nurses’ past, it was also an opportunity to reflect on the understaffing challenges facing the profession today.

“It’s like meeting your family and your sisters,” said Sue Oneschuk, one of six organizers of the two-day reunion.

“There’s a bond. We did spend a lot of time in residence together, so that lives on forever. It’s just very heartwarming to see everybody. We’ve already had a lot of laughter.”

Hôtel-Dieu of St. Joseph hospital was founded in Windsor over 130 years ago and operated a nursing school from 1911 to 1972.

The graduating class of 1969 had 69 members, with 58 still remaining today. Those who gathered on Saturday embraced and shared stories of their days in the three-year program while viewing their class portrait and a velvet graduation cape encased in a glass display.

A lot has changed in 55 years — for instance, nurses no longer wear pleated starch white uniforms.

Yet, the vital role nurses play in the hospital remains constant, said Marra.

The importance of their role has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the hospital experienced a 30 per cent turnover in heath care staff, he said. Those who stayed are now shouldering the bulk of those pressures, he added.

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“Nurses are the most critical part of our history,” Marra said. “They are the backbone of a hospital.”

Earlier this year, the results of a survey by Unifor Local 2458, the union that represents about 2,500 health care workers in Windsor-Essex County, warned of a staffing crisis facing the sector and the need for action.

“In 2024, health care looks so different,” said Marra. “It’s a different climate now than it was when they went to school and when they were practicing.

“The climate is challenging because financial pressures are putting pressure on administrators like myself to create new models of care and new staffing models.”

Much of that burden falls on nurses, said Oneschuk, as they are the ones who interact most with patients every day.

“There is very much a heart in nursing,” she said. “You need to have that compassion, and you need to have that desire to be of service and to help others.”

Marra said the hospital is focused on supporting staff through the challenges. Not just through formal scholarships and bursaries, but also simpler gestures such as special recognition days, or delivering carts of snacks to the units.

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