UMass Memorial Nurses Outraged Over Worsening Hospital Conditions

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

A combination of inaction from administration and worsening or stagnant hospital conditions throughout the UMass Memorial system has nurses outraged after spending the time to craft a letter of concern and attempting to meet with Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care.

While nurses continue to reach out to administration throughout the UMass Memorial system, they feel as though their concerns have gone unwarranted. Other than a recent announcement that Marlborough Hospital had hired a new chief nursing officer, nurses report that changes to their hospital that would improve patient care have gone largely unnoticed.

“The fact that they have hired a new chief nursing officer means nothing to us yet,” said David Schildmeier, Director of Public Communications with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “If he is smart then he will immediately hire a number of nurses to benefit patient care. If he is hired and concerns of nurses aren’t addressed, then we will continue to fight and raise our concerns. The fact is this new hire needs to act more like a nurse than an executive or administrator.”

The Massachusetts Nurses Association recently helped nurses on July 31st to hold a press conference and deliver a letter to Dickson. It was reported that the nurses never directly spoke or met with Dickson. Additionally, nurses though out the UMass Memorial system note that there still has been no communication between the nurses and administration about the issue at hand.

Worsening Conditions

Nurses throughout the UMass Memorial system report that conditions are certainly not improving at their respective hospitals and in some cases appear to be getting even worse.

Throughout the UMass system staff is being cut as well as key programs. One such example is at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Memorial Campus – where there are plans to cut the hospital’s phlebotomy and their IV unit, which are two crucial programs. Some nurses are even saying that these continually deteriorating hospitals are in the worst condition they have seen since they began working at them, which in some cases is more than 30 years.

“I think that conditions are actually getting worse,” said Ellen Smith, RN, Critical Care Nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s University Campus and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit. “We met this morning – we have a staff meeting once a quarter – and we spoke about how unsafe the hospital is for patients; it’s absolutely crazy. We feel that our unit is unsafe; it isn’t safe for patients or nurses.”

A Changing Landscape

While nurses have their complaints about staffing and program cuts – UMass Memorial executives say that they are doing the best that they can to ensure that nurses are happy and patients are safe.

While Dickson hasn’t spoken specifically to the nurses, he has addressed them in a public comment on his blog. In the post, Dickson says that he is willing to work with nurses as long as they realize that healthcare is a changing field.

“As health care changes, so must the jobs we all do. We all need to be prepared to reinvent ourselves to meet the changing needs of our patients,” said Dickson in a blog post. “I recognize that a sense of employment security is a primary concern of all of you. As we continue our restructuring efforts, I will do my very best to keep people who want to stay with UMass Memorial employed with us as long as you are willing to reinvent yourself and shift between jobs or change how you do your current work to meet the changing needs of our patients.”

Related Slideshow: Central MA Non-Profit Hospital CEO Pay, From Least To Most

Here are the total annual compensation amounts for the CEOs of the four non-profit hospital groups in Central Massachusetts. The source is each hospital group’s latest available 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is filed with the IRS and available at Guidestar.org. The CEOs are shown here, from lowest to highest total compensation.

Prev Next

#4 Winfield Brown

Salary: $192,828

President and CEO, Heywood Healthcare, with campuses in Athol and Gardner

Note: Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital and Athol Memorial Hospital merged in January 2013 to form Heywood Health Care. Brown, who had been president and CEO of Athol Memorial, became head of Heywood Health Care in August 2011. Daniel Moen, who had been president and CEO of Henry Heywood Memorial, was terminated in January 2011. His total compensation for fiscal 2011 was $993,456.

Latest available 1099 filing: Athol Memorial

Latest available 1099 filing: Henry Heywood Memorial

Prev Next

#3 Edward Moore

Salary: $461,607

President and CEO, Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge

Latest available 1099 filing

Prev Next

#2 Francis Saba

Salary: $603,232

CEO, Milford Regional Medical Center, Milford

Latest available 1099 filing

Prev Next

#1 John O'Brien

Salary: $2,358,455

Former President and CEO, UMass Memorial Health Care, with campuses in Worcester, Clinton, Leominster, Marlboro and Palmer

Note: John O’Brien retired as president and CEO in January 2013. Dr. Eric Dickson, MD, became the new president and CEO the following month. The UMass Memorial news release announcing Dickson’s appointment did not include his compensation package. According to UMass Memorial’s latest available 1099 form, Dickson received a total of $650,589 in compensation during the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2012.

Latest available 1099 filing