SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania‘s registered nurses at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Altoona are on a one-day strike today. UPMC rejected proposals for better staffing ratios, which is shown to improve patient outcomes, decrease the length of hospital stays, and increase patient satisfaction scores, among other issues.
“It comes down to patient care and safety,” explains Kim Heverly, who has been an RN at the hospital for 22 years. “If we don’t have good ratios, nursing becomes just a series of tasks, and you may miss subtle changes in a patient’s condition that could be an early indicator of complications. You also lose those one-on-one moments of caring and compassion, which is so important in nursing.”
Today’s strike is a part of a larger campaign effort by Make It Our UPMC, a coalition of UPMC employees, faith and community leaders, elected officials, healthcare providers and activists, parents and teachers, bus-riders and people across the region whose goal is to ensure that UPMC plays by the rules, partners with the community to build great neighborhoods, and makes every job a family sustaining job. UPMC, the $10 billion global health enterprise based in Pittsburgh, acquired Altoona Regional Health System on July 1.
Nurses, joined by community members, hosted a candle light vigil in December, launched a petition calling on the Board at UPMC to address community concerns, and are planning a Valentine’s Day Action where nurses from across the country will send Valentine’s Day cards to management asking them to “have a heart” and put patients before profits.
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This article was originally printed on SEIU on February 11, 2014.  Reprinted with permission.
Author: SEIU Communications