EVERETT — Employees at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett are reeling after management announced plans last week to reduce certified nursing assistant staffing.
On Thursday, Providence management held a mandatory meeting for a number of the hospital’s more than 470 certified nursing assistants, notifying them of the decision. Employees said they received notice of the meeting the day before.
Per the union’s collective bargaining agreement, Providence asked for volunteers to take a severance package. If the number of volunteers does not meet the need for reduced staffing, Providence could proceed with layoffs, with seniority as the determining factor, according to the contract.
Management gave certified nursing assistants a deadline of Thursday to accept the voluntary severance package. Details of the offer remain unclear, staff and union representatives said.
In a statement to The Daily Herald on Tuesday, Providence spokesperson Ed Boyle said management hopes about 25% of certified nursing assistants accept the voluntary package.
Union members don’t have enough information to make a decision by Thursday, union representative Byram Simpson said.
“Members had relevant, important questions about how this decision was made, who was involved, and how many CNAs might be impacted,” wrote representatives from the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 8 in an email to nursing assistants Monday. “Providence was unable or unwilling to answer the majority of these questions during the meeting.”
On Friday, the union issued a demand to bargain letter over the details of the severance package. Later that day, Providence management acknowledged they received the demand letter, Simpson said, but did not set a meeting date.
“We encourage Providence to come to the table and negotiate a fair severance,” Simpson wrote.
The union may ask to extend the deadline past Thursday, union representatives wrote in the email, depending on the time it takes to negotiate the effects of voluntary severance.
Providence Swedish, Providence Everett’s parent company, is facing “significant financial challenges,” Boyle said, including proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, a national labor shortage, medical and pharmaceutical inflation, delayed payments from insurers, and state-level changes to reimbursement rates.
“While the decision to offer voluntary separations is a necessary step to stabilize our financial sustainability, it in no way reflects the value or dedication of the affected caregivers,” he said.
In addition, current registered nursing staffing levels are the highest in seven years, Boyle said. As a result, Providence has to balance the number of registered nurses with other supportive clinical roles, including certified nursing assistants, he said.
All affected employees will have the option to seek other roles within Providence, Boyle said.
In addition to checking patients’ vitals, certified nursing assistants make sure patients are safe and that their basic needs are being met, such as helping them use the bathroom after surgery. Any reduction in certified nursing assistant staffing would have a negative impact on patient safety, said Brenda, a certified nursing assistant at Providence Everett.
“There’s going to be a lot of falls happening,” she said, who asked that only her first name be use used. “Sometimes, people go to the bathroom on their own because they’re tired of waiting. If people were to wait longer, they would just be impulsive and try to do things on their own.”
Boyle said the change does not affect the quality or continuity of care at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Current assistants said they’re already understaffed.
“Every day, they send us messages to pick up shifts, and now they’re saying they have enough staff,” said Babita Karky, a certified nursing assistant at Providence Everett.
Voels wrote in an email that she is often left with more than 11 patients during a shift. Over the past seven months, she’s seen the number of assistants on the floor decrease from four to two or three.
“I am deeply worried about the patients’ safety & what it will do to the nursing staff,” Voels wrote. “We are all a team and I would hate for them to add more work in the nursing load. They already have too much on their plate as it is.”
In November 2023, more than 1,300 Providence nurses went on strike for five days due to chronic understaffing. From 2019 to 2023, Providence Everett lost 600 nurses.
Karky has worked at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett for three years. It was her first job in the United States after moving from Nepal. If she loses her job, she doesn’t know what’s next for her, she said.
“I don’t know where to go, what to do anymore,” she said.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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