Letter: A Nursing Strike at BMC Not in Patients' Interest

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To the Editor:

Berkshire Medical Center has been my employer for 23 years. I work in a non-management, staff recruitment role. My mother is a retired registered nurse and my father was a member of two labor unions during his career. I grew up influenced by nursing and labor.

Health care is a difficult and complex business. Whether one works in a clinical function, or in another role that supports the operation of a hospital, the work is hard. Financial viability is a constant struggle and dollars are ever shrinking. Given the goals of the current federal administration even tougher times may lie ahead. BMC is a not-for-profit hospital. "Profits" become additional services, staff or new equipment. The Berkshire community benefits from BMC's financial health. Such initiatives as the Cancer Center at the Hillcrest campus, or the ever increasing array of services now offered at Berkshire Health North in North Adams, following the calamitous demise of North Adams Regional Hospital, are a testament to what is possible when fiscal responsibility and patient access to care are priorities.

But money alone won't achieve the award winning status that BMC has earned. A positive patient experience depends on competent and compassionate staff and the BMC team is comprised of a very broad range of clinical specialists and operational support staff. This team approach fosters quality care that patients expect and deserve when they place their trust in Berkshire Medical Center.



The registered nurses who are currently considering staging a strike at BMC are telling the public, that nurse/patient ratios are unsafe. BMC's staffing standards follow recommendations by the American Nurses Association, a professional nursing organization. Nurses are part of clinical teams who, together, provide patient care. Management has offered the nurses the option to participate in an ongoing Hospital Wide Staffing Committee to address their staffing concerns but the RN union is lobbying to have fixed RN/patient ratio language in their contract that essentially ignores the contributions of the rest of the clinical team.

BMC is the Berkshires' community hospital. Management is making staffing plans to ensure that patients are cared for if a nursing strike occurs. A strike is not a patient centered action. BMC's entire staff works to provide high quality care for the people of Berkshire County and a nursing strike will not support that effort. For more information [on BMC's position] please visit www.bmcnurses.com/.

Sue Purdy
Dalton, Mass.

 

 

 

 


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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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