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Some Winnipeggers waited in the rain for hours, standing in long lines that snaked around buildings in the hopes of getting bloodwork and other medical testing done at several Dynacare locations in the city.
The long wait times come amid ongoing tensions between Dynacare and the union representing its workers.
On Sept. 8, hundreds of lab technologists and technicians went on strike after talks between the union that represents them and Dynacare broke down. A Manitoba Labour Board decision issued an interim order sending workers back on the job that same day.
The board is expected to deliver a decision on whether Dynacare should be considered an essential service by Oct. 1.
Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, said the privately-owned company “won’t be able to staff their labs with wages that are so far behind.”
A group of Dynacare lab workers picket outside its St. Boniface location in Winnipeg on Sept. 8. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
“We’re already seeing staffing challenges resulting in more lab closures, while Dynacare is growing increasingly desperate, offering double and triple overtime pay. Morale is so low that even these incentives aren’t working,” Linklater said in a statement to CBC News.
CBC News has reached out to Dynacare for comment.
Renata Buhler first went to the lab’s Garden City location on Saturday morning, but quickly turned around to try her luck elsewhere.
“When I got there at around 9:00 a.m., I saw a line of well over 100 people that stretched all along the building and like right around the corner of the building. I saw that and I said, ‘No way,'” Buhler said.
She then drove to Dynacare’s location at the St. Vital mall. She said the company’s website showed there was a 30 minute wait at that lab.
“When I got here, I saw a line that was even worse than the first location I was at, well over 100, possibly even 200 people in line,” Buhler told CBC News while waiting in line to get onto the waitlist for testing.
Renata Buhler waited for about two and a half hours to get her blood drawn at a Dynacare lab in St. Vital mall on Saturday. (Submitted by Renata Buhler)
She told CBC News she could see about three or four staff members working inside from her position in line.
“I’ve been waiting a very long time this morning to get my bloodwork done,” she said. “I need the bloodwork done today. I have no other choice [but] to wait, which is really frustrating.”
Buhler waited for about two and a half hours to have her blood drawn just after noon on Saturday.
“This has to get fixed. This can’t be just the new normal.”
Greg Labustro waited for about three hours to get bloodwork done at a Dynacare location on McPhillips Street on a rainy Saturday morning. (Justin Fraser/CBC)
Greg Labustro had already been waiting at the Garden City location on McPhillips Street for more than an hour by the time Buhler abandoned her plan to go there.
Labustro said he waited for about three hours, despite arriving before the lab opened at 7:30 a.m.
“It’s rough. It’s a waste of time, but you have to do what you have to do,” said Labustro, who had to fast for 12 hours before getting bloodwork done.
Normie Mendoza wasn’t so lucky.
She went to the same lab centre on Saturday morning hoping to get testing done before she leaves for a vacation on Monday. She never made it inside.
Just before 11:15 a.m. a Dynacare staff member told people waiting outside that the Garden City site hit maximum capacity and they couldn’t take any more patients. The crowd was told to come back when the location reopens on Monday morning.
Now Mendoza will have to wait until after she gets back from her trip.
“It would have been nice to just go on my vacation and not worry about having to do the test still, just come back and get my results,” she said.
“It’s going to stress me out because I just want to do the test.”