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Testimony provided by: Jeanine Hickey RN
Massachusetts Nurses Association
Joint Committee on Healthcare Oversight Hearing on Hospital Closings
- 2/5/02
Representative Stanley, Senator Moore and the honorable members
of the Joint Committee on Healthcare, my name is Jeanine Hickey
and I have been a Registered Nurse and a member of the Massachusetts
Nurses Association for 24 years. I want to thank you for the opportunity
to come before you today to talk about hospital closings and the
effect on healthcare in the Commonwealth.
Last year as the city of Haverhill was looking to close the Hale
Hospital my colleagues and I came before you to ask for your help
in saving our hospital. Like Whidden and now Waltham the closure
of our community hospitals would have devastating effects on access
to healthcare for the citizens of these communities. As you are
aware the issues surrounding the sale of Hale Hospital were challenging
and complex and it took over seven months for the negotiations with
a successor owner to be completed. Ultimately the hospital was sold
on August 31,2001.
The transition did not go as smoothly as Whidden. First there was
no recognition of the professional nurses union the Massachusetts
Nurses Association; second, nurses were made to reapply for their
own positions; third, there was no contract to preserve salaries
and benefits; and fourth, there was a unilateral change in wage
and benefits packages and no provision for continuity on retirement
issues. These conditions resulted in the loss of approximately 100
registered nurses (both regular and per diem staff) at the time
of the transition. Because of the lack of nurses the hospital was
unable to admit to its full bed capacity. I will tell you now that
the loss of those nurses also resulted in the loss of literally
hundreds of years of nursing experience and at a time when we face
a serious nursing shortage the chances of recruiting that caliber
of Registered Nurse again is very doubtful.
The new hospital has had some success in recruiting nurses but we
remain at less than full staff and therefore unable to be at full
capacity for admissions. This has caused an overflow of patients
to go to area hospitals causing significant backup in emergency
rooms and bed availability. The waits in hospital emergency rooms
have increased and patients have had to spend long hours waiting
for admission. Emergency room diversions in the northeast remain
high.
The Registered Nurses have remained committed to delivering the
highest quality healthcare and upholding our professional nursing
standards at the new hospital. The new employer recently recognized
the Massachusetts Nurses Association but did not maintain the prior
nurses contract and we are now in negotiations to try and stabilize
the working conditions to avoid further loss of qualified registered
nurses and hopefully continue to attract new nurses.
We have offered the experiences of the Whidden and the Hale to guide
your deliberations in developing a statewide policy that would ensure
that patients continue to receive quality patient care and access
to services when there is a hospital closure, whether real or threatened
and upon sale or transfer of a facility to a new entity.
I thank you again for the opportunity to testify before your committee
and make myself available to you if you should require further information
on this subject.
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