When registered nurse Rebecca de Witte learned about an outbreak at a Brampton long-term care home, she said she did not hesitate. “Staff were afraid to come to work … and so that left the population very severely underserved so I stepped in to help,” said de Witte.
Her actual title is best practice coordinator for the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO), so working the frontline was a departure for de Witte.
De Witte travels an hour and a half to Grace Manor and back each day from her home in Collingwood. “Doing personal support work, registered nursing work, dietary support, social work, whatever it is that we’ve needed I’ve taken on those roles,” she explained.