Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198597
Profile:3 7/9/07 1:36 PM Page 18 Piece of the Action Board member robert marth, rn has always looked for a way to make a difference, whether it's confronting management or saving a life. By Lucia Hwang I t's hard to imagine now, but back in the 1990s, jobs for registered nurses were scarce. Hospitals were cost cutting left and right, and Kaiser Permanente was no exception. In 1995, CNA/NNOC RN board member Robert Marth, Jr. was working in the intensive care unit for Kaiser in Redwood City, Calif. when the giant hospital system announced it was rolling out its "member-focused care" program. The new initiative translated to massive layoffs of 2,700 RNs, reducing the hours for and shifting more work onto those that remained, and hiring more unlicensed personnel. "I called it 'hocus pocus' care," said Marth. "Now you see it, now you don't." Marth witnessed his coworkers confronting devastating hardships: RNs lost their homes, got divorced, and one even committed suicide. Marth saw his hours cut from 40 to 24, and he and his wife scrambled to figure out how to pay their bills with one child born and another on the way. "We didn't know how we were going to survive," he remembers. Patient care "definitely went down the tubes," said Marth. "We were doing more and the patients were getting less." At one point, unlicensed personnel not working under the supervision of a lab (dubbed "care partners" by Kaiser) were even drawing blood, a practice Marth and other colleagues challenged before the state Department of Health Services and eventually won. Enduring this bleak period in nursing and working conditions forced Marth to come to a realization: There needed to be more of a balance between employer and staff, and the union was the answer. "It made me angry that the security I thought I had from the employer wasn't guaranteed," said Marth. "There's no guarantees you'll have a job. Someone is always trying to take it away. So we organized." Marth had already been active at his hos"I think the drive for me comes from Marth. "That motivates me. When I pital dealing with contract issues as a unit see something wrong, I want to trying to organize large groups of nurse representative, but now he stepped up strategize to make it right." people and moving them in a way his involvement and commitment. He helped Marth undoubtedly picked up that's positive. That motivates me. organize his colleagues to fight "member much of this outlook during his six When I see something wrong, I want focused care" by documenting daily the lack years with the United States Army to strategize to make it right." of care that jeopardized patients. He linked Medical Corps as an advanced clinithe different units and floors, so that nurses were sharing information cal specialist and medic. Starting as a nurses' aide since age 15, Marth and networking, and challenging hospital management together. enjoyed working in hospital environments – particularly the emerWithin eight months, the hospital started adding hours back to the gency room. "I wanted something fast paced, high energy, and was nurses' shifts. "Member-focused care" lasted for several more years, looking for something different every day," he said. "I wanted to help but was eventually scrapped. By then, Marth was hooked on mobiliz- people and make a living at the same time. Nursing was that niche." ing nurses. He decided to become an RN, but it was hard to get into nursing "I think the drive for me comes from trying to organize large school at the time. So he decided to get his education and training groups of people and moving them in a way that's positive," said through the military. 18 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G JUNE 2007