Nurses ask Essentia to put patient care first

Nurses at St. Mary's Hospital in Superior, St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, and the Miller-Dwan Building in Duluth have proposed some common sense ideas to ensure the best possible patient care at our hospitals during our contract negotiations with Essentia Health.

Unfortunately, Essentia is ignoring those proposals and seems more interested in forcing nurses to take punitive concessions than talking about safe patient care.

Nurses are the professionals at the bedside every day, providing the skilled, compassionate care that patients deserve and expect. Patients are our priority.

We know that patients receive the best care when nurses have the right number of patients to care for at one time.

Nurses take our role as patient advocates very seriously. Every day, we encounter situations where we have too many patients to care for at one time. We do everything possible to stand up for our patients, but hospitals are the ones ultimately responsible for making sure there are enough nurses on every shift.

We made proposals to make it easier for hospitals to have the proper nurse-patient mix at all times. Nurses are asking Essentia to have some serious discussions about safe staffing so we can find common ground. Essentia has refused to give us a counter proposal regarding safe staffing.

Instead, management is insisting on eliminating the nurses' popular, affordable health plan. Essentia has the money to pay for quality, affordable health insurance for all employees, not just nurses.

It is surprising to many that nurses and other hospital employees have to pay for their own health insurance - and it's just as expensive as everywhere else.

It would only make sense for hospitals to set an example and make sure all employees have affordable health insurance so they are healthy and don't put others at risk.

Nurses are already exposed to more illness and infection than other profession. It's part of the job of caring for sick people.

Nurses also have one of the highest rates of workplace injuries in the country, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That's all the more reason that nurses should be able to afford the healthcare they need to continue caring for their patients without worrying about getting sick and not being able to pay their health care bills - or their families' bills.

We just don't understand why Essentia is trying to eliminate one of the nurses' health care plans without offsetting that loss in some way. Essentia's current proposals amount to a pay cut for nurses. Most people expect some improvements in a new contract - not to lose.

It appears to us that Essentia is putting profits over patients.

Nurses are asking Essentia to put patient care first and negotiate a contract that recognizes nurses as skilled professionals who provide top-quality care to every patient.

We are looking for serious discussions where can reach agreements that benefit patients, nurses and our entire hospital system.

That's how Essentia can demonstrate its "spirit of caring."

Steve Strand, registered nurse, is co-chairman of the MNA nurse negotiating team at Twin Ports Essentia Health. Other members of the team include registered nurses Sue Benson, Kellie Brickson, Cathy Malec and co-chairperson Maryann Hirsch.