Letter: An open letter to Barton Board of Directors Chairman Kirk Ledbetter (opinion)
Chairman Ledbetter,
We write to you as concerned Barton nurses who serve our Lake Tahoe community about the conditions at the hospital.
Nurses joined the California Nurses Association in November 2017 to improve staffing and provide safe therapeutic patient care. Nursing is now the most injurious profession in the country, and we became part of the CNA to have a voice in patient care and to improve our working conditions.
We have seen too many of our nurse colleagues leave Barton to go work at other hospitals. We’ve seen many of our colleagues being chased after by collection agencies for personal medical debt when they receive healthcare at Barton. We’ve witnessed excessive management pay increases while nurses’ wages have stagnated. We’ve seen too many arbitrary management decisions that have resulted in good nurses leaving our hospital.
After negotiating for over 18 months, we filed several unfair Labor Practice charges over Barton’s bad faith bargaining. On May 24, we made the difficult decision to go on strike. The hospital responded with a four-day lockout. While Barton has since made some incremental proposals at the bargaining table, Barton management still insists that nurses accept a proposal that would effectively weaken our union and make it impossible to maintain any gains that we make. As chairman of the Board of Directors of Barton Hospital, you have the ability to give nurses a fair contract that ensures a strong union that stops the turnover of nurses and provides quality patient care to our Lake Tahoe community.
It is union nurses who keep Tahoe safe. Our community deserves nothing less.
Alex Larson, ICU
Alex Rider, Med Surg
Alix Belik, ER
Amanda Margulies, ER
Amy Isenhart, Wound Care
Anna Peterson, ICU
Ashely Daw, ER
Ben Mire, ICU
Beth Dameral, Infusion
Bonnie McKnight, Float Pool
Briana Wilkins, Med Surg
Bridget Demaree, OB
Christy Yetter, OB
Brook Ceko, ICU
Cheri Long, OB
Chris Shagen, ER
Corey Reier, ER
Courtney Royce, ER
Daryl Braga, ER
Dorothy Dean, ER
Elizabeth Lampi, ER
Eric Gower, ER
Fiona Rodriguez, Lake Tahoe Surgery Center
Hensel Maddock, ER
Howard Neuman, ER
John Truesdell, ER
Julia Warren, ICU
Julie Smith, ICU
Justin Child, Med Surg
Karen Zlendick, ER
Kelli Teteak, ICU
Kelly Mileski, Float Pool
Kimberly Cramer, GI Lab
Kristin Snyder, ER
Kurtis Lukina, ER
Laurel Sorensen, GI Lab
Leah Torres, ER
Nancy Pepper, ER
Natalie Reschke, ER
Oliver Rogers, ER
Rachelle Pakes, GI Lab
Rayna Caroll, Case Manger
Romie Navarro, ER
Ruth Szatkowski, ICU
Ryan Weibel, ER
Samantha Reed, Med Surg
Shane Reynolds, ER
Shannon Miller, ICU
Sienna Smith, ER
Simone Aller, Case Manager
Spencer Rhodes, ER
Star Robinson, Med Surg
Stephanie Coats, ER
Stephanie Garnin, Lake Tahoe Surgery Center
Suan Altman, ICU
Susan Andersen, SNF
Tammy McBride, ER
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