"We want safe working conditions, we want safe care for our patients," said Johanna Mancuso, who has worked at the hospital for about a decade and who hung a sign around her body saying "Nurses standing together for our patients."
As drivers honked, about 50 nurses, who are part of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, participated in a two-hour informational picket on Union Street. The local union has been in contract negotiations with the hospital for 11 months.
The association has claimed staffing at the Natick hospital, owned by Vanguard Health Care, is the worst in the region. Hospital administration has said that the data on which that claim is based is old and the hospital has increased staffing since then.
"We’re very confident in our ability to provide quality care," said Dr. Donna Gemme, chief nursing officer at MetroWest Medical Center, on Friday.
Gemme said the union over the summer withdrew a staffing proposal that could have increased levels, a sign she said that staffing is appropriate. Union leadership said it wants to try a different approach.
"We’re there at the table to bargain in good faith," Gemme said. "We’re willing to sit down and listen to their concerns, but we’ve addressed any staffing (issues)."
Gemme said on Monday that the Department of Nursing has hadded 11 nursing positions this budgeting year, between the Framingham and Natick campuses. She also said that’s a true increase, as they have not reduced the nursing staff in any other way.
Mancuso, a Milford resident, said nurses have to pick up some duties of personal care assistants, and also handle post-operative care that may pull them away from their regular rounds.
"Overall we’re taking on more hats and not getting any help," she said, noting nurses also have concerns about overtime pay.
Gemme said on Friday that nurses on average at the facility’s Framingham and Natick campuses have four or five patients and occasionally six if they have an assistant. Those levels are adequate for a community hospital that does not treat the most severe illnesses, the spokeswoman said.
Katie Murphy, a Framingham resident who has worked at Leonard Morse for six years, said nurses needed to get their message across to the public they serve.
"The community needs to know what’s happening," said Murphy, while taking a break from yelling chants through a bullhorn.
Murphy said she would like to see staffing levels tackled throughout the state through legislation.
Vicki Emerson, a co-chairwoman of the 172-person bargaining union, said the nurses would like to see a nurse on a floor such as her medical/surgical unit handle four patients with an assistant instead of the six they currently assist. She said it is unusual for Natick nurses to picket.
"This is a big step for us," Emerson said. "We don’t want a contentious workplace. … We just want to make the hospital better."
Brian Benson can be reached at 508-626-3964 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.
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