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CALIFORNIA R egistered nurses at Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. held a two-day strike in April as Barton's board of direc- tors refused to address persistent patient safety issues, including short staffing and deepening nurse recruitment and retention problems. The strike by California Nurses Association (CNA) members kicked off with a virtual press conference and a virtual rally. "As a longtime member of this commu- nity, and a longtime nurse at Barton Memorial Hospital, it breaks my heart to see so many nurses leave our hospital due to the poor working conditions, the short-staffing issues, and the board's general disrespect for the nurses," said Dorothy Dean, a registered nurse who works in the emergency room. "Throughout the pandemic, nurses literally put their lives on the line working without adequate personal protective equipment, without clear protocols for how to safely provide care, and by logging hours of over- time when our community needed us most. We are proud to have cared for our patients during such a difficult year. Now it is time for Barton's board of directors to show us the respect we deserve and work with us to settle a contract that allows us to provide the highest quality of care to our patients." Dean said many nurses have left the hos- pital this year already, and the hospital's own data indicates that more than 13 per- cent of the nurses left the hospital last year. "Barton will tell you the percentage of nurses who have left in the last couple years and will write it off as normal, but I have worked shoulder to shoulder with many of them. I know their names, their skills, the care they gave, and their stories," said Rachelle Pakes, an RN who works in the GI lab and a Tahoe native. "These nurses make up the fabric of our community. Some have been at the hospital for 10 years or even 30 years. When they leave, we lose a valuable and skillful care provider and mentor for the new nurses." Nurses noted that while many RNs leave because the compensation and benefits do not allow nurses to live in the community, the chief executive officers of Barton Health, Dr. Clint Purvance, earned $751,766 in total compensation in 2019, according to Barton's federal tax filing. Notably, Purvance's com- pensation had increased by almost 25 percent from 2018. Tax records show that while Barton gets huge tax breaks as a nonprofit and earned a net income of nearly $29 million in 2019, Barton provided just $1.8 million in charity care that year, a figure which represents just 1.37 percent of its operating costs. "It is unconscionable to me that Barton's board of directors, which oversees an organ- ization with assets worth $300 million, is willing to pay an exorbitant salary to a CEO, yet is so stingy when it comes to providing for those in need in our own community," said Dean. Nurses condemned Barton's punitive practice of locking out striking nurses, say- ing the move is intended to break the union and creates additional stress for nurses, who are advocating on behalf of their patients. Furthermore, nurses say the prac- tice is costly and takes money away from patient care. They note that Barton was willing to pay out more than $2 million to replacement workers during two lockouts in 2019. Barton nurses voted overwhelmingly to join CNA in 2017. They began negotiations in March 2018, bringing issues such as unsafe staffing, turnover, and health benefits to the bargaining table. The nurses struck in May and September of 2019 over unsafe working conditions and Barton's practice of sending nurses into collections over medical debt owed to Barton. —Rachel Berger 8 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 1 NEWS BRIEFS Barton nurses strike for patient safety Reminder! CNA/NNOC scholarship applications for the 2021/2022 academic year are due on July 8. Four different scholarships are offered, and are available for ADN, BSN, and MSN nursing students. Funds are also available for CNA/NNOC members who are engaged in community health projects, or who have taken nursing education courses in 2020 or 2021. Eligibility requirements vary by fund; you can find complete information as well as the link to apply on our scholarship page at nnu.org/scholarships.