I am writing as a concerned citizen and a supporter of labor and in support of the struggle of the nurses of the Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. PRMCE has been a longstanding institution that has provided medical care for the people of Everett. It has been under the control of Providence Health and Services, a multistate hospital system with 51 hospitals and 1,000 clinics. In 2021, its revenue exceeded $27 billion and it sits on over $10 billion in investments.
How is it possible that this enormously profitable institution cannot afford to staff and care for the personnel of its hospital properly? This privately run institution cares more about its business case than its medical care quality. In 2022, it has been reported by the Washington Department of Health that number of Adverse Events (a medical error that leads to patient harm or death.) was 34, up over 100 percent from 2021, when it was 14. Currently, nurses are overworked, understaffed and underpaid. The fact that this isn’t on the front news of every paper and not one of the top news stories every day astounds me.
These issues directly affect the health of the citizens of Snohomish County, not to mention the nurses themselves. This is not just limited to Providence, but it’s one of the main issues that we can and should address and make known to the public.
While Gov. Jay Inslee signed the “safe staffing” bill on staffing requirements, these effects would only incur a penalty which Providence would seem more than happy to pay to maintain a low labor cost business model. Let us make this an issue worth rallying public support around, supporting nurses, standing with them as continue negotiations, and even providing them with positive support if they go on strike.
The nurses and the citizens of Everett deserve better from our health care institutions.
Mike Berryhill
Lake Stevens
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