HYANNIS – Nurses picketing outside Cape Cod Hospital on Wednesday afternoon said they already have negotiated salary increases with management at Cape Cod Healthcare.
Now they are rallying for improved staffing levels a move they said is needed to keep patients safe. Nurses are overwhelmed. The patient assignments are too burdensome to give the care patients deserve, said Michelle Brum of Mashpee, who leads the Massachusetts Nurses Association chapter at Cape Cod Hospital with Shannon Sherman of Yarmouth.
The nurses union is asking management to free charge nurses who run nursing operations in a unit from having to care for patients as well, Brum said.
CAI
Registered nurses held an informational picket on the corner of Main Street, near Cape Cod Hospital, calling for higher staffing levels. Their union is renegotiating the nurses contract with Cape Cod Healthcare.
Registered nurses picketed outside Cape Cod Hospital on Wednesday, saying they need more nurses on each shift.
About 50 nurses and a few other supporters gathered by mid afternoon. Some stood on the sidewalk near the hospital, and others a block away at the Main Street corner.
Eunice Grew, who works in a cardiac step-down unit, said a lot of young nurses are leaving to go elsewhere for a better staff-to-patient ratio.
By WXTK News
May 19, 2021
Registered nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association will be holding a protest outside of Cape Cod Hospital today.
The nurses say Cape Cod Healthcare refuses to agree to an increased amount of nurses on staff.
The nurses also want higher wages.
The demonstration runs from 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. outside Cape Cod Hospital.
General Election - National Health Service
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)