MILFORD, Mass. — Last spring, they were the poster children for the pathetic PPE situation in Massachusetts, after a shortage of gowns forced Milford Regional Medical Center nurses to wear sheets of plastic.
“The hospital, I think, would say that was a solution they came up with that was adequate and it protected us,” said Sara Burton, a registered nurse who works on the hospital’s main COVID-19 floor. “But I think none of us ever saw them as anything other than trash bags.”
Those ‘trash bags,’ along with a host of other COVID-19-related complaints, finally pushed a majority of nurses to pull the union trigger. Burton said 70% of nurses signed authorization cards, indicating a willingness to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The National Labor Relations Board requires just 30% interest for a vote to go forward.
On Monday, a group of nurses personally delivered an election petition to hospital CEO Edward Kelly, around the same time the NLRB got an electronic copy. Once the NLRB verifies adequate interest in forming a union at the hospital, it will schedule a vote, usually within five to seven weeks.
“Before COVID, I feel like we knew we had some issues with the hospital,” Burton said. “There’s always been a lack of communication, a lack of transparency, a lack of true partnership with nursing. But COVID has really brought all of those weaknesses into sharp relief.”
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Burton charged that the hospital failed to apply lessons it learned from the spring virus surge to prevent the virus from spreading to staff.
“We’ve had two outbreaks in inpatient units with over 10 nurses in each unit affected,” she said. “And we just don’t feel like we’ve gotten enough information about that. We don’t feel like enough was done to prevent that from happening.”
For example, Burton said not enough emphasis was put on mask-wearing earlier in the fall. Milford Regional did not address specific questions about inadequate personal protective equipment, but, in a statement, the hospital said its top priority was the safety of patients and staff.
“Milford Regional has followed strict guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) on protocols set for treatment and the wearing of PPE,” wrote hospital spokesperson Terri McDonald. “As is the case with all health care systems, extraordinary effort has been made at Milford Regional to provide staff with PPE that adheres to the CDC and DPH guidelines.”
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