Amidst the large crowd, smell of barbecue, laughter from the moon bounce, and the hum of conversation was a pervasive sense of community felt just as strongly as the tangible objects that made the atmosphere come to life at this past Saturday’s Rally for Safe Staffing held by the nursing staff of Civista Hospital. Also a contributor to the event and strong supporter of its cause was Local 1199 SEIU (Service Employees International Union).
According to the nurses the event was held in response to the failure of Civista management to move on proposals made by said nurses on the issue of safe staffing. Defined as the appropriate levels of registered nurses to always meet care and need of patients, safe staffing is achieved by staffing plans that account for individual needs of each patient care unit. Civista nurses believe their management has not addressed these plans and that this in turn affects the patients. They have been urging for safe staffing issues in the hospital to be solved, but as of yet, to no avail. One of many Civista nurses who spoke at the rally expressed, “Nurses are never to care for two persons at one time in ER. At Civista we are assigned three. We are working short handed and being pushed to the brink.”
Civista management claims that the main issue is over employee compensation, not staffing. They believe that they have made major concessions for the nurses, which include perks and a 3.25% increase in payroll over the next three years. They also cite that the nursing vacancy rate at the hospital is at a low 4%. Despite this, Civista nurses still do not think enough is being done on the issue of safe staffing. As of yet, these differences have resulted in a stalemate.
Looking to break that standstill, Civista nurses and families, the La Plata community, and nurses from other hospitals in the surrounding areas joined together to express their determination for change. Available to all in attendance was Lefty’s Barbeque, cotton candy, moon bounce fun for the kids, and live music and entertainment by a hired cover band. Among the speakers were nurses from Civista, Local 1199 members involved in the nurses’ strike of 2000, and Union president George Gresham. Nurses shared concerns on the staffing issue as well as stories sent to their rally website about unpleasant visits to the hospital due to staffing problems. Dawn Jones, a nurse at Civista for 18 years, claimed, “We need proper support staff. It is important that there are enough people on the floor to take care of patients.” Nurses who were involved in the strike during the year 2000 expressed that they were strong enough to do it then, so they would be strong enough to do it now. President George Gresham supported this threat of strike if wants were no
