BOSTON — As nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital prepare for a one-day strike this week, parents with babies in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) say they are worried about the impact on families who rely on the nurses caring for their newborns.
Stella and Briana Scata have spent the past 95 days in the NICU with their son, Giuseppe, who was born prematurely at just 25 weeks in April. He weighed only 1 pound, 9 ounces at birth.
Now, after more than three months in intensive care, Giuseppe is growing stronger.
“He has passed all of his tests,” Stella Scata said. “He’s been doing incredible, growing stronger, almost full six pounds, which is incredible.”
The Scatas credit the NICU nursing staff with helping their family through one of the most difficult experiences of their lives.
“I just can’t imagine how we would have gotten through this experience or through this journey without our nursing team,” Briana Scata said. “They’ve been incredible. They’ve become part of our family. They’re people that we talk to at times more than our own family and friends.”
The nurses’ union has scheduled a one-day strike for Wednesday after contract negotiations with Brigham and Women’s Hospital stalled over wages, benefits and working conditions. However, because the hospital has contracted with temporary replacement nurses, union nurses say they will not be allowed to return to work for five days following the strike while those staffing agreements are honored.
For families with loved ones in the NICU, that extended absence has created additional anxiety.
“To have them not be there, it’s really scary for families,” Stella Scata said.
She said the uncertainty is especially difficult for parents who have developed close relationships with the nurses caring for their babies day after day.
“It’s just really sad to see that they’re not being supported as they should be,” she said.
As contract negotiations continue, families say they are caught in the middle of the labor dispute.
“They’re the reason he is here,” Stella Scata said. “The nurse that helped us during delivery, the nurses that helped me postpartum, the nurses that are there every single day—they really made a difference, and they’re the reason our son is alive.”
The Scatas say they are fortunate that Giuseppe is expected to be discharged this week before the staffing changes take effect. Still, they say they are thinking about the families whose babies will remain in the NICU and receive care from temporary nurses during the work stoppage.
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