Still here. Still one person. Here's what each of us can do.

It's been a few months since my last update. Here's why, and why it matters.

This petition is run by one person: me. There is no organization, no funding and no staff behind it. This year I've unexpectedly been working three jobs as a dietitian while caregiving and managing my own health, and then flooding hit my region. The advocacy took a back seat.

That is the problem this petition is about. Dietitians outside hospitals have no collective voice and no funded advocacy. When the work depends on volunteers squeezing it in around everything else, it stalls.

THE NEWS: THE HOSPITAL RECLASSIFICATION GRIEVANCE WAS DENIED

After roughly four years and 10 days of hearings, the OPSEU central grievance to reclassify hospital dietitians was not successful. It only ever applied to centrally bargaining hospitals. It was never going to reach primary care, community, public health or long-term care.

But it raises a question. If "dietitian" as a job title can't be reclassified, what about the roles we actually fill? A dietitian working as a diabetes educator provides the same care, to the same patients, as the nurse or pharmacist beside them. Should pay follow the role and the responsibility?

Here is what I'm seeing in diabetes education:

• Programs hiring dietitians without the CDE credential because qualified candidates aren't applying
• Nursing positions in primary care diabetes programs sitting empty
• Experienced clinicians still needing medical directives for care they are trained to provide

When a program can't fill either the RD or the RN position, the problem isn't one profession. It's what the sector pays for the role.

ONE PIECE IS MOVING

The College of Dietitians of Ontario is advancing proposals to expand our legal scope so it reflects what we are already educated and trained to do, including ordering lab tests and prescribing continuous glucose monitors. CDO has been surveying dietitians to build the case.

Scope and pay are connected. Every time a dietitian needs someone else's signature for care they are competent to provide, it reinforces the idea that we are support staff.

MEANWHILE

• Family health teams are still asking Ontario for $430 million over five years to close the primary care wage gap
• Ontario keeps funding new primary care teams while existing ones can't keep their staff
• Dietitians (OPSEU unions in FHTs do exist!) were on picket lines this year in Owen Sound (May to October) and North York (13 weeks)
• More than 70% of Ontario hospitals are forecasting deficits and cutting positions

WHAT YOU CAN DO, WITHOUT WAITING FOR A BIG GROUP

We are tired. I know. But none of this needs an organization, and most of it takes one click.

• Fill out the surveys. CDO, Dietitians of Canada, your employer, your union. Five minutes of your answers becomes someone's evidence.
• Repost. Share updates like this one on LinkedIn and social media.
• Forward. Email it to the colleagues who aren't online much, so everyone stays in the loop.
• Speak up once. In a team meeting, a staff survey, or a note to your MPP.

That's 5 to 10 minutes out of your month. If each of us does it, the news keeps moving without anyone carrying it alone.

AND SHARE IT BEYOND DIETITIANS

About 9 in 10 people who come to my private practice in Niagara have never seen a dietitian before, and most aren't sure what we do. That is the real gap. People can't ask for something they don't know exists.

With exposure and experience, regular people can ASK for a dietitian: from their family doctor, their health team, their benefits plan, their MPP. Public demand is what creates funded positions. So share this (and your profession/job) with your neighbours, your family and your community groups too.

I'll be bringing this to my MPP again in the new year. Reply or comment with what you're seeing where you work, and your examples will go with me.

Sandra Venneri, RD