pagE 2 | October 15, 2021 | NorTHwEST LaBor prESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the
labor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on
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ing the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union or-
ganizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
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Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Jill Lukens
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CORRECTIONS
Based on inaccurate information we were
provided, we reported in our Oct. 1 issue
that the first-ever union contract at
Beneficial State Bank covers about 150
employees, but the actual number is 96.
An article on the looming Hollywood
strike in our Oct. 1 issue identified
cdavid cottrill as IATSE Local 488 vice
president. But that’s his former title; cot-
trill has been southern region business
agent for the local since 2019.
In a report on the Oregon building trades
convention in our Oct. 1 issue, we
misidentified a participant on a panel
about the council’s history. Retired
Pendleton Building Trades leader
george gritz took part, but we re-
ported it was his son Jeff Gritz, also a
Pendleton Building Trades leader and
leader of the District Council of Laborers.
Hours: Mon-Sat 12-6 pm Closed Sunday
Nurse union warns staffing shortage is at crisis levels
By Don McIntosh
For years, nurse unions have
been sounding the alarm about
understaffing: Hospitals have not
been scheduling enough nurses
to serve patients well, and that’s
resulting in missed breaks and
nurse burnout. Now, 18 months
into a global pandemic, the
staffing shortage itself is becom-
ing an urgent public health crisis,
leaders of Oregon Nurses Asso-
ciation (ONA) said in an online
Oct. 7 press conference.
In Oregon, Providence alone
has 2,000 openings in caregiver
positions, ONA said. Hospitals
are employing traveling nurses
as an expensive fix. Up to 30%
of the nursing staff in some hos-
pitals are travelers.
Meanwhile, in a union survey
at OHSU, 86% of nurses reported
fatigue, burnout and morale dis-
tress, and 60% said they’re con-
sidering leaving the profession.
Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccine
mandate will make the shortage
worse Oct. 18, when hospitals
remove the 4% to 10% of nurses
who are unvaccinated.
“When hospitals are short
staffed, you and your family
members pay the price,” said
ONA president Lynda Pond.
“You pay it with 12-hour ER vis-
its, you pay it with more hospital
injuries and infections. Your
grandmother pays it when she
has to go back to chemo because
her cancer surgery was post-
poned due to a lack of staff. We
all pay the taxes to cover the cost
of hundreds of traveling nurses
and 1,500 National Guard mem-
bers who are called upon to plug
the gaps. And finally, you pay it
with a higher risk of death when
you enter the hospital. Decades
of research have shown that
nurse staffing is one of the most
effective, affordable ways to
keep patients healthy.”
ONA isn’t just complaining
about the crisis; it’s proposing
solutions, if hospitals, the gover-
nor, and lawmakers will listen:
■ Hospitals: Start honoring legally required
meal and rest breaks, and replace the
“buddy system” of breaks with designated
break nurses. And end the expensive and
unsustainable practice of relying on
traveling nurses.
■ Nursing schools: Increase nursing
faculty salaries to mirror clinical salaries,
and increase the number and size of
nursing student scholarships.
■ Governor Brown: Create a commission
to systemically review Oregon healthcare
staffing
■ Oregon Legislature: Provide loan
forgiveness to nursing students who agree
to complete four years of work in areas of
great need.
HoSpITaLS–aND LawMaKErS–NEED To LISTEN To
NUrSES. HErE’S wHaT THrEE wHo arE oFFIcErS oF THE
orEgoN NUrSES aSSocIaTIoN HaD To Say:
STAFFING WAS ALREADY A PROBLEM
“Nurses have been demanding that hospi-
tals address short staffing for years, and hos-
pital executives have ignored us, because
it's cheaper to run lean, it's cheaper to
stretch the people and resources, it’s
cheaper to hire one nurse to do the job of
two to three.”
–Lynda Pond, Sacred Heart in Springfield
THEN THE PANDEMIC TOOK A TOLL ON MORALE
“One of the most distressing things is seeing
the despair on the nurses’ faces, and the fa-
tigue, and it's more profound than I've ever
seen. To see the whole ICU filled with the
same diagnosis, that never happened. In flu
season we might have five or six flu patients
in the ICU, not 30 with the same diagnosis.
That's like a mass casualty event.”
–Matt Calzia, Sacred Heart in Springfield
NOW NURSES ARE WORRIED FOR THE FUTURE
“We are concerned that burnout will lead to
nurses leaving the bedside—and, in Ore-
gon, we will not be able to educate a large
enough number of nurses to replace
them.… Many potential nurses look at the
profession with suspicion. Why would a
young person choose to enter nursing,
when the job is so difficult?”
–Natasha Schwartz, OHSU