UPDATE: Nurses speak out regarding petition

UPDATE: Monday, July 31st, 2017 3:50 P.M.

Nurses of UP Health System Marquette will be delivering a petition urging management to consider safe staffing proposals to protect patients.

“I think we need a lot more staff, we need more nurses, and we need shorter shifts for our nurses to provide the best possible care for our patients,” said Nurse and member of negotiating team, Stephanie DePetro.

Nurses at UP Health System-Marquette believe the current staffing levels in the hospital are dangerous and pose a threat to safe patient care.

“The less nurses we have, the less time we have to spend with patients, therefore we are unable to do the care they need. Patients are waiting long time for pain medications, insulin, high blood pressure medications, and when that takes us a longer time to get there, that’s detrimental to the patient,” said UPHS Registered Nurse, Suzette Hantz.

Other than allegedly keeping patients waiting for needed medications, the nurses also report working excessive hours.

“There are nurses working 12 hour shifts that are scheduled for 8 hour shifts and many times, 16 hour shifts,” said Hantz,
One nurse that ABC 10 spoke with, had just recently finished an 18 hour long shift.

“I was on call yesterday, I’m an OR Nurse and I went in at about 6:30 in the morning and I punched out at a quarter to one this morning,” said DePetro.

Moving forward with the petition, nurses are looking to get more staff members in order to provide appropriate patient care.

“We’re hoping we can get more nurses, we are looking for staffing ratios so there are always a certain number of nurses working on each unit,” said Hantz.

Nurses are attempting to ensure this process moves along quicker than in the past.

“Our great concern is, things have been moving very slowly. We’ve had a proposal out for staffing for over two months now and they have not come back with anything on staffing,” said Hantz.

Victor Harrington, the UPHS Marketing and Business Development Regional Director, released a statement saying, “There is a nursing shortage across the United States. We’ve recognized this as an issue for the Upper Peninsula as well, and we continue to work on solutions. We are negotiating in good faith with the Michigan Nurses Association union to develop a contract that meets the needs of our nursing staff and hospital.”

“We want management to finally acknowledge the fact that there’s a problem at our hospital and that they kind of brush our concerns aside and don’t validate our issues or our problems,” said DePetro.

Thousands have signed the petition and it will be delivered by nurses to hospital management on Tuesday at 4 P.M. at the RN Staff Council Office in Marquette.

UPDATE: Monday, July 31st, 2017 11:00 A.M.

UPHS Marketing and Business Development Regional Director, Victor Harrington, responded to the Michigan Nurses Association’s petition stating:

“At UP Health System – Marquette, our people are our priority, and we are absolutely committed to delivering high-quality patient care and creating excellent workplaces for our employees. There is a nursing shortage across the United States. We’ve recognized this as an issue for the Upper Peninsula as well, and we continue to work on solutions. We are negotiating in good faith with the Michigan Nurses Association union to develop a contract that meets the needs of our nursing staff and hospital. Because we are in active negotiations with the union, and out of respect for the confidentiality of this process, we are unable to comment further.”

MARQUETTE — UPHS-Marquette RN Staff members will be delivering a petition urging management to consider safe staffing proposals to protect patients.

Nurses at UPHS-Marquette believe the current staffing levels in the hospital are dangerous and pose a threat to safe patient care. The petition states, “I am signing this petition to urge Duke LifePoint/UPHS-Marquette to bargain with nurses for an agreement that ensures guaranteed minimum RN staffing levels that are safe for patients, in every department and on every shift.”

Nurses will be delivering this petition to hospital management and speaking about the conditions in the hospital at a press conference. This event will be on Tuesday, August 1st at 4 P.M. at the RN Staff Council Office located at 260 W. Magnetic St. in Marquette.