The registered nurses of Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center (JPH), on Chicago’s South Side, are taking a stand for their patients on Thursday, at a press conference announcing that years’ worth of forms documenting unsafe staffing and dangerous patient care conditions—long ignored by administration—will be delivered to the Illinois Department of Public Health and other regulatory agencies.

In the past year alone, JPH nurses have reported over 30 separate incidents to management, and an elected committee of RN leaders has repeatedly raised concerns with administration, only to be met with endless stalling and lack of action. Now, nurses say, as patient advocates, it is their duty to report these conditions to the regulatory authorities responsible for enforcing hospital licensing and certification regulations.

“The outrageous number of unsafe staffing situations that have been ignored by administration leave nurses unable to provide quality, safe care. This has to stop. If administration is not acting in the best interest of public health and safety, then we have to appeal to the regulatory agencies, in order to protect our patients,” says Diane Hibbler, an RN in the JPH Emergency Room.

What: Press Conference with Jackson Park Hospital RNs, on unsafe staffing
When: Thursday, April 16—10 a.m.
Where: Jackson Park Hospital, Stony Island Entrance, 7531 South Stony Island Ave., Chicago, IL 60649

Regulatory agencies contacted will include the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), The Joint Commission and the Center for Medicaid Services. In a document already drafted to the IDPH, RNs chronicle ignored reports on unsafe staffing and other dangerous conditions dating back over two years. The reports span hospital units, including Psychiatric, Intensive Care, Medical/Surgical, Mother/Baby and the ER.

Nurses say that after exhausting all other internal options, they hope creating outside pressure on the hospital, in the form of a potential impact on its licensing, will turn the tide and cause administration to finally address unsafe conditions.

“We care for an underserved community, and our patients deserve better than this,” says Theresa Ivery, RN, of Jackson Park’s Behavioral Management Unit. “After our concerns have gone unheard for so long, it’s time to take our findings public. It’s time for change.”

JPH nurses are members of National Nurses United/National Nurses Organizing Committee—which represents more than 6,000 Illinois Registered Nurses and over 186,000 Registered Nurses throughout the United States.