More than 1,000 RNs to Picket Outside Brigham & Women’s Hosp.
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 from 2 – 4 pm
To Protest Hospital’s Failure to Recruit and Retain Staff to Provide Safe Care

Contract Talks Stall Over Issues of Poor Staffing Levels, Overburdening of New Nurses and a Wage Offer that Leaves Brigham Nurses 10 percent Below Like-sized Hospitals

In what promises to be the largest informational picket of a hospital in Massachusetts history, more than 1,000 registered nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) at Brigham & Women’s Hospital plan to demonstrate outside the entrance to the facility on Oct. 12, 2006 from 2 – 4 p.m. The 2,400 RNs at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, who are attempting to negotiate a new union contract, are protesting the hospital’s failure to recruit and retain the staff needed to safely care for patients.

Maintaining appropriate staffing levels is a constant struggle at the facility, which is causing nurses to work overtime hours to fill gaps in the schedule and for nurses on a number of units to take on excessive patient assignments. The nurses point to concrete evidence of a rapid deterioration in staffing conditions that jeopardize the safety of patients every day:

• In the last three weeks alone, nurses have filed more than 65 official reports of unsafe staffing conditions at the facility, conditions nurses say compromised their ability to deliver the care their patients deserved. On one recent occasion, two newly licensed nurses were left alone on a floor with 15 patients?a patient assignment that the medical research shows placed those patients at a 21 to 31percent increased risk of death. Hundreds of these reports have been filed in the last year.
• Nurses on a floor that specializes in providing post-operative care to critical patients recovering from brain surgery and other neurological conditions recently signed a letter to management and physicians pleading for more staff. The letter stated, “We struggle everyday to keep these patients safe. We are tired of learning that our patients?no matter how hard we try?are still at risk. We fear something catastrophic is going to happen.”

The Brigham nurses are outraged by the hospital’s lack of effort to negotiate a fair settlement with the nurses in light of the fact that Brigham & Women’s Hospital is one the busiest and most profitable hospitals in the state, with state-of-the-art services catering to a patient population with complex needs and who require the most sophisticated nursing care. Brigham & Women’s profits increased by more than 75 percent in 2005 to more than $74 million, and the facility posted another $42 million in profits through the second quarter of this year. In the wake of this success, the hospital is offering its nurses a 1.5 percent pay hike and is asking them to pay for that increase by cutting their sick time benefits. The hospital’s salary offer will leave the Brigham nurses pay scale as much as 10 percent below nurses at like-sized facilities?including Boston Medical Center and the Dana Farber Cancer Center.

The Brigham & Women’s Hospital nurses and management have been negotiating their contract since July 13, 2006. The contract expired on Sept. 30 and has been extended until the next negotiating session on Oct. 23. If talks continue to stall, the nurses are considering taking a vote to authorize a strike.

Driving Directions

From the North - Head South on Route 93. Take exit 26 (Route 28/Route 3 North) toward Storrow Drive. Keep left at the fork in the ramp. Turn slight right onto Route 3 North. Merge onto Storrow Drive west. Take the Fenway/Route 1 South exit (on left). Stay in the left lane as you drive up the ramp. At lights, bear right onto Boylston Street. At third set of lights, bear left onto Brookline Avenue. At fifth set of lights, turn left onto Francis Street. The hospital is one block down on the left.

From Logan Airport - Follow signs to Sumner Tunnel. At end of Sumner Tunnel, take immediate right for Storrow Drive. Stay in right lane on the ramp. Take the exit for Storrow Drive. This puts you in the left lane of merging traffic. Move into one of the two right lanes to stay on Storrow Drive. Take the Fenway/Route 1 South exit (on left). Stay in the left lane as you drive up the ramp. At lights, bear right onto Boylston Street. At third set of lights, bear left onto Brookline Avenue. At fifth set of lights, turn left onto Francis Street. The hospital is one block down on the left.

From the West - head east on Massachusetts Turnpike. Take Route 128 (I-95) south for approximately one mile. Take Route 9 east for six miles. Take a left onto Brookline Avenue (Brook House Condominiums will be on right). At third set of lights, turn right onto Francis Street. The hospital is one block down on the left. ~or~ Stay on Massachusetts Turnpike east. Take Huntington Avenue/Copley Square/Prudential Center exit, and bear left toward the Prudential. Follow Huntington Avenue west for approximately three miles. Turn right onto Francis Street at Brigham Circle.

From the South - Head north on Route 3 (Southeast Expressway). Take Massachusetts Avenue/Roxbury exit. At end of ramp, cross Massachusetts Avenue onto Melnea Cass Boulevard. At the 8th traffic light, take left onto Tremont Street. Take first right onto Ruggles Street. Turn left onto Huntington Avenue at intersection with Ruggles Street. At second set of lights (Brigham Circle), turn right onto Francis Street. Hospital is one block down on right.

Public Transportation via MBTA Bus or Trolley
The nearest MBTA bus routes and subway lines to the hospital are:

Trolley/Subway Green Line--either D or E
"E" Line: Heath/Arborway car
Stop: Brigham Circle
"D" Line: Riverside car
Stop: Longwood

Buses
Bus No. 66
Harvard Square to Dudley Station, via Allston and Brookline Village
Stop: Brigham Circle
Bus No. 65
Brighton Center - Kenmore Sta. Via Washington St., Brookline Village & Brookline Ave
Stop: The corner of Francis Street and Brookline Avenue
Bus No. 60
Chestnut Hill - Kenmore Station Via Brookline Village and Cypress St.
Stop: The corner of Francis Street and Brookline Avenue
Bus No. 47
Central Sq., Cambridge - Broadway Station Via South End Medical Area, Dudley Station & Longwood Medical Area
Stop: Longwood Avenue in front of Children's Hospital
Bus No. 39
Forest Hills Sta. - Back Bay Sta. Via Huntington Ave.
Stop: Brigham Circle
Bus No. 8
Kenmore Station
Stop: First stop on Longwood Avenue
Bus No. CT2
Sullivan Station - Ruggles Station Via Kendall/MIT & Longwood Medical and Academic Area
Stop: The corner of Longwood and Huntington Avenues
Bus No. CT3
Beth Israel Hospital - Andrew Station Via B.U. Medical Center/BCH
Stop: The corner of Avenue Louis Pasteur and Longwood Avenue
For more information please call the MBTA at 617.222.3200 or visit www.mbta.com.