Health-care worker says they can’t find parking at IWK hospital

Construction and development at the IWK Health Centre, a children’s hospital in Halifax, is creating a parking shortage for staff.

The president of the union that represents nurses in Nova Scotia says parking has always been an issue at the hospital but with the lack of available spaces right now, it's never been this bad.

“There is none, there is no parking and that’s just the way it is," said Janet Hazelton, N.S. Nurses’ Union president. "Because of the Ronald MacDonald House and the expansion of the emergency department, I can’t remember but they've lost hundreds of spaces.”

Construction of IWK's new pediatric emergency department got underway in October and the $102-million facility is expected to be completed by late 2025.

But the construction has contributed to the loss of 320 parking spaces said an IWK spokesperson, who added it’s not known how many parking spaces were lost due to construction of the new Ronald McDonald House on South Street across the street from the IWK emergency department.

To make matters worse, an internal memo from the IWK was sent to all health-care staff in late January telling them they can no longer use the hospital’s public parkade on University between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.

As the public parkade is now been reserved for patients only during that time to ensure there parking for those seeking care.

With the loss of hundreds of parking spaces around the children’s hospital, health-care workers tell CTV News it's becoming almost impossible to find parking close to work.

CTV News spoke with three IWK health workers who all requested anonymity out of the fear that speaking out could jeopardize their jobs.

A health-care technician with over 20 years’ experience at the hospital said the parking situation has gotten so bad that employees are having to park great distances from the hospital, where it might take them 20 minutes or more to walk to work.

"I've never seen it this bad," said the employee. "It's gotten so bad, you can't find parking at all and a lot of the streets around there that used to be all-day parking are no longer available, the city has turned them into two-hour parking.

All three employees said parking is expensive but the bigger challenge is finding parking in the first place.

“Paying for it is one thing and that’s a problem too, but not having it at all is a bigger problem," said Hazelton.

The health-care technician said the hospital failed to come up with a parking plan before construction but did say the IWK offered employees a reduced rate for a public transit pass.

The president of the nurses union says that doesn’t cut it and her team is having ongoing conversations with the IWK about parking.

Hazelton says they need some creative solutions now.

"We can't leave it this way for the next two or three years while they wait for construction to wrap up," said Hazelton. “Maybe they have to provide nurses with a taxi chit, so that they can come to work in a taxi and it’s not costing them 30, 40 or $50 to get to work.”

In the memo to staff, the IWK says it is monitoring parking closely at the IWK's public parkade to ensure staff are leaving it available for patients.

There are alternative daily parking lots nearby that staff can pay and use, including the Impark lot on South Street which has a $100 monthly rate or a daily $13 rate, which is one dollar cheaper than the IWK public parkade.

The health-care technician says at that rate it begins eating into employees' paycheques.

"If you can find a spot and pay the daily rate, that's more than $300," they said. "That's a lot of money to park and we don't make that much money."