Providence hospital’s contract with nurses must address staffing

Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 15, 2023

Highly technical yet compassionate, self-sacrificing, hard-working and absolutely essential describe today’s registered nurses. At Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, nurses are fighting for a contract that will ensure adequate staffing, and in turn, a safe environment for those of us who are patients at this hospital.

Patients cannot be safe when a hospital is understaffed. Providence has lost more than 400 nurses. The Emergency Department has 60 beds, most of which are full on any given day with patients waiting for a bed upstairs because Providence had to shut down about 100 beds due to its nursing shortage. New emergency admissions are placed in hallways. If you think this does not affect you, remember that Providence is the Level 2 Trauma Center for our area. If you have an accident, it is likely you will be taken to Providence.

Providence claims we’ll never have enough nurses, and wants to replace some of them with certified nursing assistants. They even launched a pilot project to demonstrate that this was a workable idea, but in the view of the Providence nurses who spoke at a recent Town Hall, the project was a failure.

For the privilege of operating as a nonprofit — not having to pay local, state, or federal taxes — Providence must place its profits in a fund for purposes of improving operations and supporting patients unable to pay. This fund, for the Providence system, contains $10 billion to $12 billion. Surely, Providence can afford to hire enough nurses at a competitive wage to ensure our safety.

Thank you, Providence nurses, for fighting for us!

Kristie Kujawski

Langley