Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1514408
O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 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 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 15 year," said Monica Coleman, RN in the Office of Community Care at Lovell FHCC. "VA Undersecretary Shereef Elnahal said that the evidence shows that flexible schedules attract new nurses and retain highly skilled nurses." RNs at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colo. held a rally in July to demand that management address the epidemic of violence at the facility and take meaningful steps to prevent workplace violence and provide a safe workplace for health care professionals and a safe place of healing for veterans. "Nurses are being assaulted, kicked, spit at, hit, and threatened on a daily basis," said Ricardo Ortega, RN and the NNOC/NNU associate director at Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. "We have brought up these issues to management but instead of address- ing them, they are coming after those of us who are speaking out to demand a safe workplace." VA nurses working at the Charlie Nor- wood VA Medical Center in Augusta held a rally in early September to highlight urgent issues at their facility, such as the 25 percent nurse vacancy rate, executive management's lack of respect towards RNs, work-life imbalance for nurses who are stretched beyond the limit, and patient safety risks— all of which are driving nurses away. "There continues to be severe short staffing at our facility, and we're worried about what it means for our patients," said Irma Westmoreland, RN and NNU Augusta Area Director. "Nurses are leaving because of unsafe staffing, lack of real respect by top management, and because this VA still hasn't implemented flexible scheduling." RNs at the Atlanta VA Medical Center and the Atlanta VA Health System and mem- bers of National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) held a candlelight vigil in September to protest the ongoing nursing crisis in their facilities. The nurses said VA executive management has created tragic conditions in their facilities through disre- specting the nursing staff, stretching nurses to the limit, and endangering patient safety with ongoing short-staffing. The nurses fear patients suffering more due to the conditions, and hope their vigil will be a reminder for management of what's at stake: the lives of their patients. "The shortcomings of the Atlanta VA sys- tem fall directly on executive management, who do not listen to nurses when we tell them what support we need to recruit and retain seasoned nursing staffing," said Dana Horton, RN and NNU Atlanta Area Direc- tor. "It's as if they don't care that seasoned and well-trained VA nurses have left and will continue to leave." —Staff report