MNA Blog (Page 23)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

On:
In: Activism, Essentia, Hospitals, Patient Safety

Late last year, nurses in North Dakota and northern Minnesota learned of a plan from Essentia Health to pursue acquisition talks with CHI/Common Spirit Health Care. The plan was for Essentia Health to acquire 14 facilities and take over management and services they provide to mainly rural communities across northern Minnesota and North Dakota.

From the start, MNA members were concerned about the implications this deal would have on patient care in many critical access facilities. Nurses were familiar with the past dealings of Essentia in Moose Lake, taking over the small community hospital and immediately shuttering services and sending patients to the system hub in Duluth.
… Read more about: Nurses celebrate a win as CHI/Essentia merger falls through  »

On:
In: Press Releases, Standards of Care

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

Nurses Fearful Patients Unable to Receive Care

(St. Paul) – June 3, 2021 – Nurse members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have filed a ten-day notice to picket outside Children’s Hospitals Minneapolis and Saint Paul campuses to fight for enough staffing and enough beds for pediatric patients.

MNA nurses have been meeting with Children’s management over several months since the corporation launched a downsizing of its Saint Paul hospital and a redesign for the Minneapolis campus.
… Read more about: Pediatric Nurses Will Picket Children’s Hospitals  »

On:
In: COVID-19, EWELA, Press Releases

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

​
Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org

Emergency COVID-19 Leave Bill Caught in Limbo in Legislature

(St. Paul) – May 27, 2021 – Essential workers feel left behind despite their hard work and sacrifice during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re demanding progress on the emergency leave bill they were promised.

Despite Emergency Leave (link) passing the Minnesota House, the legislation has stalled in the Senate.  Essential workers were told there were both state and federal dollars to help them recapture the lost time and wages they missed while being forced to quarantine or await test results.
… Read more about: Essential workers to lawmakers: ‘Don’t forget us’  »

On:
In: Fairview, Press Releases

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

Patients Losing Nurse Staffing to Cuts

(St. Paul) – May 10, 2021 – Nurse members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have filed a formal notice of their intent to hold an Informational Picket outside M Health Fairview’s Southdale Hospital campus on Wednesday, May 12.

MNA nurses are opposing M Health’s plan to cut staffing for patients in vitally important care departments. While nurses have tried to engage in discussions with hospital management on solutions, Southdale staffing plans show managers intend to cut anyway, including reducing Medical/Surgical department staffing.
… Read more about: Nurses Will Picket M Health Southdale Hospital Over Staffing  »

On:
In: CHI, Essentia, Press Releases

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

 

Workers Worried Patients Will Lose Care Close to Home

(St. Paul) – May 3, 2021 – Nurse and healthcare worker members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have filed a petition with Essentia Health to notify them they are concerned the company’s takeover of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) hospitals will result in less access to patient care, not more.

In January, Essentia Health and Common Spirit, CHI’s parent company, signed a letter of agreement where Essentia would assume control of 14 facilities and numerous clinics throughout Minnesota and North Dakota.
… Read more about: MNA Members File Petition Over Essentia-CHI Takeover  »

On:
In: Activism, Allina, Labor Unions

Ensuring patients are safe, healthy and cared for is the ultimate goal in Healthcare. Without support staff, this goal cannot be met.

Think about a typical day on a unit and the teamwork that is needed to provide safe, whole person care—the nurses and CNAs at the bedside, the staff transporting your patients between procedures, the staff answering calls, the staff sitting with a patient overnight, the staff drawing labs, the staff delivering meal trays or fresh linens, the staff assisting a frail patient to a chair—the list is endless.

Support staff work hard to ensure that you have what you need to properly care for patients.
… Read more about: A Shift Without Support  »

On:
In: Coronavirus, COVID-19, EWELA, Home, Member Blog

by Kristen Jacobson

MNA Member

 

I’m a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse. I love my job. I love where I work. I love what I do. Unfortunately lately, I haven’t been able to do it, and every time away from work has cost me, not my hospital.

When my son came in 2018, who knew I’d need all of my sick bank later?  I used the time off that I’d earned to that point, and only when I returned to work, could I start accruing time off again.

Along came 2020, and nobody knew how serious the symptoms were or what they meant.
… Read more about: Nurses Need Our Earned Benefits Back  »

On:
In: Press Releases, Uncategorized

The Minnesota Nurses Association represents 22,000 Registered Nurses from diverse backgrounds, including those from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. We are Midwesterners, immigrants, native-born Americans, and Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color and veterans of our armed forces. MNA embraces and supports all of our members.

The staging of the Minnesota National Guard at the St. Paul Labor Center occurred without the approval or discussion amongst the unions that own the building regarding the Guard’s request to utilize the building. MNA, like many unions, has a position against the militarization of police and the use of military force against protestors.  The property itself is owned by a group of Minnesota unions, including MNA.
… Read more about: Statement on actions of 4.15.21 at St. Paul Labor Center  »

On:
In: Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

​
Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org

 

April 13, 2021 (St. Paul) –

“On April 11, 2021, while running an errand, 20-year old Daunte Wright was killed by an officer of the Brooklyn Center Police Department. The Twin Cities have lost another young Black man, a two-year-old son has lost his father, and a mother and her family are grieving the loss of another innocent life. MNA joins the world in mourning and grieving another life lost to police brutality, and we extend our condolences to the family of Daunte Wright.
… Read more about: MNA Nurses Statement on the Death of Daunte Wright  »

On:
In: Uncategorized

As one of the most celebrated dates for the Labor Movement since 1889, May Day or International Workers’ Day, commemorates Labor’s most significant achievements such as the eight-hour day and child labor laws and pays homage to its many heroes while remembering workers’ sacrifices such as The Haymarket Affair, The Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike among many others.

The Minnesota Nurses Association recognizes and honors May Day as one of the most sacred and relevant holidays for the Labor Movement and all trade unionists throughout the world. We recognize the importance of joining and supporting our union family especially now following a term, during which workers’ rights, benefits, and working conditions have been under threat by corporate overreach and anti-union political agendas.
… Read more about: MNA Board Statement: International Workers’ Day  »