Thousands Of Nurses Continue Strike For Fifth Day
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It's day five of a strike at Allina Hospitals involving nearly 5,000 nurses, and Thursday's message centered mainly around staffing.
Nurses say they're continually forced to run their units with fewer people than they need.
The strike began Sunday, with nearly 41 percent of Twin Cities nurses taking part. Nurses from five Allina Health hospitals site disagreement over health insurance plans, workplace safety and staffing levels as their main grievances.
In a news conference Thursday, several nurses shared stories about how low staffing has impacted the way they care for patients. One nurse who works in the intensive care unit at Abbott Northwestern said they've had to close the unit to new patients. It's not because they don't have enough beds, but because they don't have enough nurses to care for them.
Another nurse said she's been forced to work with half her normal staff, which delays patient care and procedures.
"These patients, some of them are angry and you try to explain to them what's going on. Other ones are sitting there crying," Tina Higgins, a nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, said. "One particular patient, I remember, she's like 'I waited one hour for you. I can't leave here and I'm dying and I don't want to be here anymore. And I've been waiting for you.'"
The nurses also called again for Allina CEO Penny Wheeler to talk directly to them.
In their own news conference Thursday, Allina officials said they're eager to get back to the bargaining table and want to hear any ideas the union has on staffing and other issues. Allina says the Minnesota Department of Health has completed evaluations of all of the affected hospitals and has found no issues of concern.
If no agreement is reached, the nurses will continue the strike for the next three days.
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