• Hospital supervisor knows better • Striking nurse saddened • How untrue • Patient safety tantamount Hospital supervisor knows better It is amazing to me the shibai that comes from people who should know better. I am referring to the
• Hospital supervisor knows better
• Striking nurse saddened
• How untrue
• Patient safety tantamount
Hospital supervisor knows better
It is amazing to me the shibai that comes from people who should know better. I am referring to the letter written by Shannon Davis, a supervisor at Wilcox Memorial Hospital and someone that I know personally. Shame on you.
You know what the truth is; that the nurses are expected to work with less staff when they return at strike’s end. This was made very clear to us during negotiations, we were told very clearly “to get used to it.” We are told by administration that having five nurses on the day shift (where there used to be six) to care for 28 patients is “safe care.” That the night shift will go down to four nurses for 28 patients. This is what is currently happening inside Wilcox as we speak, according to Linda Rozelle, the fourth floor supervisor, … “and it’s working just fine.” When HPH took over Wilcox a condition of that merger was that there wouldn’ t be a decrease in services, in the level of care given to the patients. This does not sound like a promise kept. You see this happening with your own eyes and why you choose to lie is beyond me.
Yes, there was an acuity system at Wilcox, it just was not a valid acuity system. The system that was being used was basically created to justify keeping staffing at minimal levels. The nurses working under this bogus system felt it was not safe for our patients. That is the main reason we went on strike. To say that we are on strike to get paid more to do less is an insult to your profession and your colleagues; oh, but you are a “supervisor” now, not one of us working nurses, how soon you forgot what it was like to care for five or six sick patients.
The nurses remain on strike not because of threats and phone calls but because they believe they are doing the right thing for the community, for themselves, and for their profession. This strike has created a unity amongst the nurses that was never there before. The longer the strike goes on, the more shibai that is said by the administration, it all just makes us stronger and more unified. Thank you for that.
If there is a vendetta, Shannon, it has become obvious who it is against and that it is a David and Goliath scenario which is occurring here. HPH is out to crush the nurses on Kaua‘i for standing up to them and if in the process they destroy our union, even better. HPH owns Straub, Kapiolani and Pali Momi. Some of these hospitals have contract negotiations coming up soon. What a wonderful lesson for them to bring to the table: “Look what happened to Wilcox; you better stay in line.”
There are many problems happening currently inside Wilcox. You know it, we know it, the public knows it. The sad thing is that these bad experiences are not made public. We have patients or family members who come to us with anecdotes about the things that happen to them or their friends. Unfortunately, as we all know, it is not the Kaua‘i way to come out publicly with this or bring attention to themselves, better to just stay quiet and share only amongst those you trust. The truth is out there, in spite of the spin Wilcox tries to put out.
You are right, Shannon, Wilcox delivered quality care in the past and if the nurses have anything to say about it we will do so again in the future. Unfortunately this will not occur with what is being currently offered to the Wilcox nurses and that’s why we will remain on strike until we know that the conditions for our patients will be better.
- Chris Broussard
Wilcox negotiation team
Striking nurse saddened
It saddens me to have read the letter written by Shannon Davis on Oct. 2. I am one of the striking nurses of Wilcox Hospital.
Need I remind you, my colleagues and I have now been on strike for 100-plus days. It has been a struggle, to say the least. If we truly cared about the money, we would have ratified the very first proposal and have not gone on strike. However, as it’s been stated time and time again, we care too much for the people of Kaua‘i for them to get less care then they deserve.
Many of these nurses on the picket line have been employed at Wilcox between eight to 35 years. Isn’t their input on patient care and safety worth anything compared to you who’s been here for only two-and-a-half years?
We’ve seen the many changes happening. Changes that have occurred even before you were here. It has been difficult for us to watch all these changes happen and not say or do anything knowing it may someday affect us, our family members, close friends and neighbors.
On June 24 we finally stood up for what we believed in and went on strike for our Kaua‘i community, our family, safe patient care. We want to be there for our patients in a timely manner when they call us in their times of need and not wait hours because their nurse was too busy with their other patients. Is that too hard to understand? In all honesty, you’ve seen that happen many times as a supervisor.
There is nothing more we nurses want then to be back at work. It pains us to see these replacement nurses drive in reporting to what was once our job. What makes it even more painful is when they wave their pay stubs at us as they drive past us. Now tell me, is that professionalism? How do you react to that? This is a type of pain you or these replacement nurses will never understand.
All negativity put aside, we all share a common ground. That is the safety of our patients — the people of Kaua‘i. We are all professionals, there has to be a way that we can resolve this in a fair and just manner and not as it has been — HPH management vs. Wilcox nurses.
How untrue
I am a Wilcox nurse who works on the third floor and a member of the Wilcox nurses’ negotiation team.
I am upset by Shannon Davis’ untrue statements regarding the Wilcox nurses’ strike for quality and safe patient care. At the negotiations table, we were told by a nurse manager that if the 28 beds on the third floor were filled, we would have five nurses during the day and four at night and if the 24 beds on the fourth floor were filled, we would have four nurses during the day and three at night. Do the math. That’s a maximum of one nurse to six, seven or eight patients. HPH has made it clear to the Wilcox nurses that the nurse staffing levels will be worse once the strike is over.
This strike is about patient care for Kaua‘i. Shannon, please tell the truth.
Patient safety tantamount
I am responding to the Guest Viewpoint that was written by Shannon Davis and appeared in The Garden Island on Oct. 2.
As I mentioned before in my letter in The Garden Island on patient safety published on Aug. 7, it is no longer sufficient for a hospital employee to declare “the patients at Wilcox are safe.” Specific indicators such as hospital infection rates, frequency of adverse events, wound infection rates following operations, length of stay and cost of procedures should be made available to the public so that an appropriate judgment concerning the hospital can be made. Rotating staff nurses every two weeks does not favor safety, quality care or patient satisfaction, and letters in The Garden Island have expressed some of these problems and concerns. Hospitals involved in labor disputes do not work as efficiently or in a coordinated manner when compared to normal circumstances. Therefore, unless emergency care is required, individuals should consider deferring their care or exploring care at some other institution until the present situation at Wilcox resolves.
Wilcox Hospital and HPH have an obligation to provide the public with their data regarding safety. Moreover, objective observers and reviewers from Medicare and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations should be invited to make spot unannounced site visits to assure that quality is being maintained. Only then can the public believe that the patients at Wilcox are safe.
