WORCESTER, Mass. — Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital took to the sidewalk Tuesday, charging that the Tenet Health Care facility is putting profits over safety when it comes to COVID-19 patients.
“We’ve been fighting for safe staffing, safe PPE, a safe COVID plan,” said Marlena Pellegrino, a 33-year registered nurse and hospital employee who is currently caring for COVID-19 patients. “And we’ve had no luck at the bargaining table. We’ve met with a lot of opposition.”
Pellegrino said the current staffing ratio for COVID-19 patients to nurses is an intolerable 5:1. But hospital spokesperson Rhiana Sherwood said the charges are untrue. She called the informational picketing by at least 100 nurses and supporters disappointing.
“We are in contract negotiations, and we strongly object to their tactic of disseminating inflammatory and misleading rhetoric to try to advance their position in those discussions,” Sherwood said in a statement. “Our staffing guidelines are appropriate and more generous than most other hospitals in the state. We have appropriate personal protective equipment, and our COVID-19 response plan remains in place.”
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On a separate issue, nurses discussed the looming possibility they will be among the first offered – or even mandated – to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
“We just got to hang in there for a few more months now,” said Mary Marengo, another registered nurse who cares for COVID-19 patients and is looking forward to the vaccine’s availability. “The rate of speed is all you need to know. In terms of how quickly it spreads, the virus doesn’t care; it just wants a host. So it’s jumping very quickly from host to host.”
Pellegrino said a serious discussion hasn’t happened yet about the vaccine, but she knows one is near, given at least two drug companies – Pfizer and Moderna – are likely on the verge of getting Emergency Use Authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration.
“I’m going to say that I believe that it’s something that should be voluntary for all nurses,” she said.
That is also the position of the union representing many nurses in the state, the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
“Even though nurses have a three-to-four times higher rate of contracting the coronavirus than the general population, we have had a very high buy-in rate, greater than 90%, when the vaccine has been voluntary,” said Katy Murphy, a registered nurse and president of the organization. “We trust our scientists, we really do. So we’re watching the evidence come out. We’re going to evaluate it very, very closely and then move forward with it.”
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