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Join Tufts One-Day Strike for Safe Patient Care : May 6, 2011

Nurses and Supporters of Nurses
Join the Nurses of Tufts Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital
As they Conduct a One-Day Strike for Safe Patient Care on May 6

WHEN:
National Nurses Day, Friday, May 6, 2011
Nurses at both hospitals begin their 24-hour strike at 6 a.m.

St. Vincent Nurses Plan Public Rally at 12 noon;
Tufts Medical Nurses will hold public rally at 4 p.m.
Supporters are welcome to join the picket line at any time.

WHERE:

Tufts Medical Center
750 Washington St., Boston

St. Vincent Hospital
23 Summer St., Worcester

The registered nurses of Tufts Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, are both planning to hold a one-day strike on National Nurses Day, May 6, 2001 to protest dangerous patient care conditions at both facilities and to call for desperately needed improvements in RN staffing levels. This is a righteous struggle by frontline nurses to protect patients at a time when countless scientific studies clearly demonstrate that when nurses have excessive patient assignments, as is the case at these two hospitals, patients suffer a number of serious complications, are subject to longer hospital stays and experience preventable medical errors.

Tufts Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital are the two of the worst staffed hospitals in their respective cities, which has resulted in the nurses’ filing more than 1,700 reports of unsafe situations at both facilities where patient care was compromised.

The nurses at both hospitals have been engaged in protracted negotiations for new union contracts, with the sticking point being the nurses’ calling for safe, enforceable staffing levels that would guarantee nurses safe patient assignments and would provide quality patient care.

We encourage all nurses, and those who support nurses, to join these courageous caregivers on their respective strike lines as they fight for the safety of their patients. Please note, while the nurses have called for a one-day strike, the management at both hospitals has stated their intent to lock the nurses out until at least May 11. If that occurs, the nurses will maintain their picket lines outside both facilities and would appreciate continued public support during that period.

Directions to Tufts Medical Center
Visit: http://www.bmc.org/patients/directions.htm

Directions to St. Vincent Hospital
Visit: http://www.stvincenthospital.com/contact/maps.aspx

From our friends at the Massachusetts Nurses Association and National Nurses United.

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