EVERETT, Wash. (KOMO) — A five-day nurses strike demanding better working conditions ended Sunday at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.
The hospital said it was a seamless transition back to work, but nurses add that negotiations are far from over.
The nurses union is asking for higher pay, more staff, and a greater emphasis on patient safety. They clarify that their return to work does not mean they’ve reached an agreement with Providence.
The 24-hour-a-day strike started Tuesday, and the hospital had replacement staff step in.
Kristen Crowder is a longtime labor and delivery nurse who participated in the strike. She claims the short-staffing in her day-to day at the hospital leads to delayed scheduled C-Sections, too few triage nurses, and they sometimes don’t have enough bedside support for those who get epidurals.
The hospital said the contract the union rejected would have increased nurse wages by 21.5% over three years. The nurses union told KOMO on Sunday that’s still well below the rate of other local hospitals.
When we’re the second busiest emergency room, labor and delivery, cath lab, we take high-risk patients, and we’re not even at the same pay level as other hospitals, people don’t want to stay. They come, get the experience, and they leave,” Crowder said.
“I think walking back today has been very difficult, very emotional,” she added.” Those nurses that came back today are happy to be back at the bedside, but they also feel like, you know, the strike was a lot emotionally for us to go through and they feel that their patients didn’t get the care that they needed.”
Providence responded with the following emailed statement when reached out for comment by KOMO News:
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett welcomed our valued nurses back to work this morning. We had a seamless transition during which our patients continued to receive high-quality care. We are grateful for the nurses who chose to work during the…
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