Eliminations and reductions in patient care services at Baystate Noble Hospital concern nurses and community members, who are seeking to preserve high-quality, local healthcare
WESTFIELD, Mass. – The registered nurses of Baystate Noble Hospital and State Senator John Velis will host a Virtual Community Forum on the Future of Baystate Noble Hospital on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. following the release of a survey showing Westfield area residents overwhelmingly support nurses’ efforts to preserve and improve patient care services at Noble in the face of cutbacks by hospital owner Baystate Health.
Senator Velis and the Noble nurses will be joined by a panel of community leaders and advocates who will speak to their experiences with hospital services. Members of the public and the media can join the forum on Tuesday at 6 p.m. here: www.massnurses.org/NobleZoom. The forum will also be streamed live on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MassNurses.
“Our nurses are fighting for a fair contract that will protect and improve patient care at Noble Hospital and properly value our work on the frontlines of healthcare,” said Paul Dubin, an RN and MNA Co-Chair at Noble. “Baystate Health is going in the opposite direction and is instead cutting services and trying to devalue the high-quality care nurses have provided patients during the pandemic and always. Together with our community we will make positive change and secure the future of our hospital.”
Virtual Community Forum on the Future of Baystate Noble Hospital
When: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020
Where: A virtual forum hosted on Zoom and shared on social media. The public and media are welcome to participate.
How: Link to join: www.massnurses.org/NobleZoom. Share testimony ahead of time: https://forms.gle/Yx6rhBSQVe4VSsDo7
Who: State Senator John Velis will host the forum with the RNs of Baystate Noble Hospital, and it will include as panelists:
- Paul Dubin, Noble nurse, MNA Co-Chair at the hospital
- Mary Martin, Noble ED nurse
- Keith Supinski, President of IAFF 1111
- Mary Ann Babinski, community leader and former Westfield City Councilor
- Alex Morse, Holyoke Mayor
- Tracy Opalinski, former Ware select board member and a leader of the Keep Care Local campaign at Mary Lane Hospital
- Lauren Woodard, Program Coordinator at Forum House, a recovery and employment services center that serves the Westfield area
A survey of more than 460 community members distributed by Noble nurses showed overwhelming public support for keeping care local, ensuring safe patient care, and supporting Noble nurses as they fight for preserving and improving hospital services and patient care conditions. Learn more: https://bit.ly/2SgSfHv.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
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