Registered nurses vote to unionize at Providence Hospital in D.C.
Providence becomes the seventh D.C. hospital with nurses organized under the banner of National Nurses United, a federation of nurses unions. Organizers hope that bringing Providence’s roughly 400 RNs into the fold will help D.C. Council legislation that would mandate certain nurse staffing levels in city hospitals. That legislation is languishing amid fierce lobbying by hospital officials, who contend that “staffing ratios†increase costs without improving patient care.
The Washington Post
Community Hospital RNs cite patient safety concerns at protest
Ellen Mockridge, a registered nurse at Community Hospital Long Beach for 30 years, said her life was put at risk because there are not enough nurses on staff. Once, Mockridge said she went to check on a patient with AIDS who was in an isolation room. Because there wasn’t another nurse to assist her, Mockridge said she was stuck with a needle and had to take off work for three months. She also had to take medication that she said compromised her immune system and prevented her from taking her arthritis medicine.
Orange County Register
Nurses Postpone Dignity Health Protests Friday as Dignity Requests Talks to Resolve Dispute
Candelight rallies planned at Dignity Health hospitals across California and Nevada this Friday to protest a threatened rollback in retirement benefits were put on hold late Wednesday after company officials agreed to meet over any potential changes in the Dignity retiree health plan.
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United
Dec 11, 2013
Nurses Protest Sutter Tracy Community Hospital's Refusal To Bargain in Good Faith
Registered Nurses at Sutter Tracy Community Hospital (STCH) will hold an informational picket and rally on Thursday to protest management's continued unwillingness to take serious action at the bargaining table. Sutter Tracy RNs held a candlelight vigil two weeks ago to alert the public to conditions in the hospital and to unacceptable positions by management at the bargaining table.
California Nurses Association
Dec 11, 2013
Hospital Fever - Healthcare now based on unknowns
In anticipation of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and insurance companies nationwide have begun to cut back services. In California, Kaiser nurses recently reported that "over the last year, Kaiser has been making it harder for patients to be admitted for hospital care when sick or injured, and is sending patients home when they should still be under hospital care" (National Nurses United, Oct. 2013).
Bohemian.com
National Nurses Statement on Federal Budget Deal
National Nurses United, the nation’s largest organization of registered nurses, today expressed dismay and alarm over the federal budget deal announced yesterday, saying it will perpetuate the harmful effects of austerity, especially with so many in Main Street communities continuing to feel the painful effects of the Great Recession caused by Wall Street speculation.
Dec 11, 2013
Today-Keep Manteca Safe Committee Welcomes “Town Hall on Cuts & Closures at Kaiser-Manteca Medical
The seniors and nurses of the Keep Manteca Safe Committee are applauding the announcement by the California Alliance for Retired Americans that the senior advocacy group will host the “Town Hall on Cuts & Closures at Kaiser-Manteca Medical Center†today, Dec. 11th, from 1-3 p.m., at the Manteca Transit Center, Moffat Blvd. at S. Main St. “We welcome the opportunity to be heard,†said committee member Jackie Rudy, a resident of the Woodbridge by Del Webb retirement community in Manteca. “These cuts and closures are causing real harm to seniors and people throughout the area.â€
California Nurses Association
Dec 11, 2013
Nurses union seeks greater hospital financial disclosure
The state’s largest nurses union is pressing forward with a bid to require greater financial disclosure by Massachusetts hospitals and limit the pay of top hospital executives, moves fiercely opposed by the hospital industry.
The Boston Globe
Providence DC RNs Vote by 78% to Unionize - First DC Non-Union Hospital Win in Decades
Braving freezing rain and snow that shut down parts of the federal government, registered nurses at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC Tuesday night became the first non-union hospital in decades to vote to join a union.
NNOC/NNU
Dec 11, 2013
Typhoon Haiyan's havoc in Philippines pulls nurse to homeland
When Typhoon Haiyan slammed into her native country, Girlie Garnada spent the next day in tears as she watched the horrifying images on television. "Seeing those bodies on the side of the road, I couldn't imagine if I was there," she said. Her immediate family was spared, but she wondered what happened to some other relatives. Finally she saw a familiar face: her husband's cousin, Annaliz Kwan, the former mayor of the city of Guinan, pleading for aid.
Tampa Bay Times