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Cooley Dickinson Hospital is based in Northampton and is owned by Mass General Brigham, formerly Partners Healthcare. In addition to the safety concerns, nurses are critical of Mass General Brigham’s proposed wage and retirement freezes.
A request for comment from Mass General Brigham was not immediately returned. This story will be updated with their response as soon as possible.
The informational protest is being organized by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Social distancing and best practices to avoid virus-spread will be observed, the union said.
Specific grievances include:
Medical-surgical unit nurses being assigned additional patients - as many as five or six; four patients would be a safer charge, the union said.
New nurses are not receiving adequate training.
Behavioral health patients have been transferred to the medical-surgical units due to a lack of hospital beds. Cooley Dickinson Hospital is not an appropriate care environment for these patients, the union said.
Staff is being told to re-use and decontaminate masks instead of being issued new ones.
Hospital visitors are not being properly screened by hospital management, the union said.
Cooley Dickinson Hospital nurses will resume negotiations for a new contract with hospital management later this month after pausing due to the pandemic.
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