ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester Regional Health is reporting no out-of-the-ordinary disruption from the current union nurses' strike. The health system says it has experienced no unusual levels of cancellations or rescheduling.
RRH says nearly half the union nurses scheduled to work on Thursday reported to Rochester General Hospital for their shifts. That statement can be read here. The Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals, however, is challenging that assertion.
Nurses who spoke with Spectrum News 1 say they are worried about the care they’ve been able to give to their patients after years of staffing shortages. They’re also frustrated travel nurses are making nearly three times as much as they do.
One nurse was a patient not too long ago and that experience is just another reason she says she's making this strike a priority.
The issues have brought hundreds of nurses like Taylor Werner to strike outside of Rochester General Hospital. She’s been a nurse at RGH since 2021. She recently gave birth there to baby Brooklyn a month ago. But Taylor had complications during labor and feels lucky to call herself a mother of three.
“They were very short-staffed that day and it could have been a very bad situation," said Werner. “The NICU primary team was in the OR for another patient at the same time she was born, resuscitating another baby, so like they wouldn’t have been able to get to her in time when I couldn’t. I may not be standing here holding her if that would have happened.”
It’s a fear that Werner's nurses too are worrying about.
“I want to always be able to reassure my patients and make sure that they know that they’re getting very good care," said Jillian Kingsley, a labor and delivery nurse at RGH. "And that’s fearful for them that they have to worry about, what they do come in, will they be safe?”
That’s what brought Werner back to the hospital with her kids during her maternity leave — to fight for safer working conditions.
“Staffing, purposefully short staffing, so that they can save a buck, like it’s not safe," said Werner. "It’s not safe for our patients and it’s absolutely horrible that the hospital continues to put profits over patients' lives when it should be the patients over the profits.”
Rochester General Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Shari McDonald says these staffing shortages are being taken care of.
"The nursing shortage has been affecting everyone across the United States," said McDonald. "We all knew there was going to be a baby boomer where everyone is going to retire and then COVID came and complicated it. Every day our staffing is challenged but we work and collaborate with other schools to bring in more nurses to take care of our patients. Im fully confident that our patients are being taken care of with clinical excellence every single day.”
Until hospital administration and union nurses can agree, Werner says even on maternity leave, she will stand with the union and hope it’s a lesson for her kids.
“It's hard being a mom and trying to advocate for your coworkers and be involved with all of this all at the same time," Werner said. "And I only hope that the sacrifices that we've made. Right? Spending time as a family, my husband having the work and you know that one day that they'll be proud of their mom and that she's that I stood up for what I believe them and the nurses here.”
Werner and her three girls are back out on the picket line on Friday. She said she came from a family of union workers and she says she's happy her children can experience what she says is just standing up for what she believes in.
Friday is only day two of the strike. Nurses are preparing to return to work Saturday. The union is encouraging them to share their experiences with colleagues who chose to remain at work through this demonstration.