Nurses at Grass Valley’s Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital will protest staff cutbacks
Registered nurses at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley will be doing informational picketing outside the facility Dec. 13 to alert community residents to staffing changes that are making it hard for them to provide timely patient care.
“Current staffing conditions, including a 50 percent reduction in nurses aides on some shifts, jeopardizes our ability to provide quality care in a timely manner,” said Tracey Barbee, a registered nurse in the hospital’s telemetry unit. “For example, when patients call for assistance in going to the bathroom, the response is often delayed which is leading to an increase in falls. We are calling on management to restore staffing so our patients can be safe and well cared for.”
Dignity Health, a unit of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, operates Sierra Nevada Memorial where about 265 members of the California Nurses Association work.
The leaders of Dignity Health emailed a statement to The Sacramento Bee, saying: “The care and safety of our patients is our top priority, and while we are disappointed in this decision, we remain committed to continuing to work with them to resolve any outstanding issues. There have not been any layoffs of registered nurses or clinical care partners (nurses aides) at Sierra Nevada, and we continue to recruit registered nurses to fill open positions.
Sierra Nevada Hospital, located at 155 Glasson Way, will remain open and will continue to provide all services during the Friday informational picket sessions, Dignity leaders stated.
Barbee and other nurses at the Grass Valley Hospital said management also plans to replace charge nurses, the seasoned registered nurses who manage a ward or unit, with shift leaders who do not have the credentials or training to help with providing patient care.
Chrissie Marshall, a nurse who moves from one unit to another as part of the hospital’s float pool, said CNA union members decided to hold informational picketing, which will occur from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Dec. 13, out of concern for their patients’ health, safety and overall care.
“When the hospital decided to eliminate the essential charge nurse positions and cut nurses aide staff, they were effectively deciding to take care away from patients,” Marshall said. “As a float nurse, I see how these cuts are impacting patients and delaying care throughout the hospital. We are standing together as patient advocates and calling on the hospital to restore and maintain the charge nurses and nurses aides so that we can provide our patients with the care they deserve.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:43 AM.
