Registered nurses will hold an informational picket and rally on Thursday July 30 at Las Palmas Medical Center to urge the hospital to consistently comply with its staffing plan and take other steps to improve the hospital’s recruitment and retention of experienced RNs.

 “We are urging the hospital to take proactive steps to improve recruitment and retention so that it can comply with its own staffing plan,” said Yadira Cabrera, RN Emergency Department. “When the hospital is in compliance, patients are attended to in a timely fashion and nurses can take the rest and meal breaks they need to provide alert, focused care.”

What: Registered nurses hold informational picket and celebration rally for Medicare's 50th anniversary
When: Today, Thursday July 30, 5:15-7:30 p.m.  Rally at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Las Palmas Medical Center, 1801 N Oregon St El Paso, Tx.  

 The hospital is regularly out of compliance with its own staffing plan according to the most recent data provided by the hospital covering the month of December 2014. For example, a medical surgical unit’s staffing was out of compliance 55 percent of the time, or 34 out of 62 shifts. When the hospital is out of compliance, nurses, who regularly work shifts of twelve hours or more, are more likely to miss rest and meal breaks. Research shows that these breaks are vital to prevent fatigue that can contribute to medical errors and injury to patients and staff.

 The LPMC nurses are also asking the hospital to address the dismal wage conditions for RNs in Texas, which contribute to high turnover rates and loss of experienced RNs. LPMC can play a leadership role, nurses say, by establishing a guaranteed wage scale and providing a fair and equitable raise based on years of service. Nurses in Texas are paid $3.00 below the national average and, although Texas is the second largest state, it is 18th in terms of RN wages.

 July 30th also marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare and community members will join the nurses to celebrate the occasion with a rally on the theme "Medicare is as American as Apple Pie." Pie will be served to symbolize the need to P-I-E, or protect, improve and expand Medicare so that all residents in the U.S. are guaranteed a single standard of quality care.   

 The 280 registered nurses at LPMC, affiliated with the National Nurses Organizing Committee, Texas / NNOC-TX, are in ongoing contract negotiations with LPMC and their contract expired June 30.  NNOC-TX is affiliated with National Nurses United, the largest organization of registered nurses in the United States with 186,000 members.