We are delighted to invite all RNAO members, other health professionals, and members of the public to our 96th Annual General Meeting (AGM) taking place on June 24 – 26, 2021. The theme for this year’s AGM is Protecting Ontarians and Leading Change: Nurses and RNAO during COVID-19. The AGM will highlight the incredible leadership played by RNs, NPs and students in nursing Ontarians during the pandemic, and the role of RNAO and its members advocating for healthy public policies to protect nurses and the public.

RNAO is glad that the government is heeding the call to accelerate the rollout of second doses. The government should engage, starting next week, in two parallel tracks for vaccinations. One is the continuation of the first dose for those 12 years and older – with priority given to hotspot zones. The second, full vaccination (second dose) should start for all persons 60+ – and not only 80+ as announced by the government. Ontario, starting next week, will have enough vaccines to move faster on both fronts. It is a matter of logistics and vaccinators, and with thousands of nurses in primary care and home care - plus 4,500 RN care coordinators available -- we can and must move faster.

Based on current trends in key health indicators, including the provincial vaccination rate, the government expects to enter Step One of the Roadmap the week of June 14, 2021. The province will confirm closer to the expected start of Step One, but RNAO cautions against any advancement of this date. We have already learnt the heavy people’s and societal costs of opening too soon.

Nurse practitioners working in long-term care (LTC) bring a unique perspective on the reality of working in Ontario’s LTC homes. We would like to thank RNAO’s NP LTC Council for contributing the following article. It builds on the collective experience of nurse practitioners (NP) participating in RNAO’s NPs in LTC Council webinars.

RNAO is involved in three major surveys that will help develop responses to nurses’ needs and capture the impacts on nurses’ wellbeing to share with employers, government and other policymakers.

RNAO calls on Premier Doug Ford to immediately exempt nurses and other health-care workers from Bill 124: "An act to implement moderation measures in respect of compensation in Ontario’s public sector". Health-care workers that fall under Bill 124 will emerge from this pandemic not just exhausted and burnt out, but also with a loss of income in real terms.

Members of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario commend the government’s May 20 announcement of a phased-in Three-Step Re-opening Roadmap for the province. RNAO says the approach, which calls for a Three-Step plan, each lasting at least 21 days, is simple and reasonable.

RNAO is profoundly saddened by the passing of nursing leader, past president and long-time member Charlotte Noesgaard on May 14.