What happens when your grandfather goes into cardiac arrest? What happens when your child is in a car accident? What happens when your wife goes into labor two months early? What happens?
In these moments of crisis time is of the essence. Every closed hospital bed means delay. Every burned-out doctor means more room for error. Every missing nurse means more unnecessary suffering.
This year Providence has 100 fewer beds than last year. Since covid, nurses have been abandoning Providence due to increased patient loads, longer hours and more and more personal risk. Providence is in a staffing crisis. Not because there aren’t nurses. There are more nurses in Snohomish County than Providence could ever employ. No. Nurses are underpaid, overworked, over-stressed and treated like disposable commodities to be burnt through by Providence administrators; administrators who, year after year, increase their already obscene salaries. The crisis at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is completely avoidable and completely manufactured.
The nurses organizing for their rights are also organizing for your rights. The rights of your friends and family to care; life-saving care. As a fellow user of Providence Everett’s facilities, I urge you, as members of our community, to support the nurses in their negotiations with Providence. The cause of nurses is the cause of the entire community. Everyone will use a hospital at some point in their life. Can we, can you, risk not fully funding and staffing one of our most crucial institutions? Please, support our nurses and UFCW 3000 in reaching a contract that will properly fund and staff our hospital, like your life depends on it … it does.
Cornelius Ersoz
Woodway
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