‘Nursing is one of the most dangerous professions:’ Tacoma nurses start picket

Approximately 1,200 registered nurses with St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma are picketing Friday for better working conditions.

Nov. 1 will mark the first day the nurses are picketing. They plan to be at the intersection of S. 19th Street and S. J Street at 11:30 a.m. this morning.

The nurses have made it clear this is not a strike, but just an informational picket.

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St. Joseph Medical Center is part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, which is owned by CommonSpirit Health, a hospital system that owns and operates 142 hospitals. The nurses are represented by the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA).

“Since the pandemic, nurses have been pushed to their limit,” WSNA stated in a news release. “The biggest issues are around staffing and workplace violence.”

According to WSNA, St. Joseph Medical Center has stopped hiring and using travel nurses while also failing to hire more nurses for full-time positions. The hospital has also cut back on certified nursing assistants, all while increasing the number of trauma cases by approximately 100%.

Four nurses within the cardiovascular intensive care unit quit in the last week.

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“We are critically short every day,” Yunna Flenord, a nurse with the cardiovascular intensive care unit, said. “At what point do we get a reprieve?”

The group of the approximate 1,200 picketing nurses at St Joseph Medical Center has held 10 bargaining sessions since Aug. 21. Beyond staffing, the nurses are also focusing their informational picket on the violence they face in the workplace and the lack of protections they have day-to-day.

WSNA shared a story when an emergency room nurse, Matthew McGuire, disarmed a patient after they grabbed a pair of scissors and began threatening to stab people. According to McGuire, the hospital’s security team didn’t act, forcing McGuire to disarm the patient himself.

“With regularity, weapons are being taken off patients in ER,” McGuire said. “Nursing is now one of the most dangerous professions.”

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Another violent encounter McGuire had to endure on the job involved a patient who came into the emergency room with a loaded firearm. The patient had an alleged drug problem. McGuire told WSNA he removed the gun and called security.

The last time a firearm was fired at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma was Dec. 2, 2023.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here