COVID
We are happy to report that demands for COVID testing are on the decline! Some challenges persist however especially with respect to the availability and supply of the reagents. That is actively being addressed and we hope to continue to see a decrease in testing demands. Huge shout out to the staff in all departments who have helped with this.

Education

PIMC has incredibly talented staff who are assisting leadership in developing education on topics that affect each of you. We were excited to hear about the arrival of new rapid infusers and a new EKG machine in house. Department specific training is of course essential so please reach out to an officer with suggestions for educational offerings that would best meet your needs.

Staffing

You may notice some new faces around the hospital and particularly in the clinics as recruitment efforts continue in all areas. Your fellow caregivers at the clinic have really felt the pinch especially through COVID and truly deserve our deep-felt appreciation for the heroic efforts they have put out to provide service to the community members and support the providers. Recruitment efforts continue and some ideas were presented at staffing committee that may help alleviate some of this pressure they all feel. It was noted today however that the Staffing Concern Forms / ADO that are filled out do play a role in helping your leadership advocate for additional position postings and enable them to continue to actively recruit. Please see Rose or Zanna for more information on this or if you have further questions.

A quick note about the online forms, however. They have a muti-use style so are used to document other issues. The form covers everything from safety issues both for workers and patients, equipment failures or missing equipment etc. and other issues that affect your everyday work. Those check box options are activated when you click the box that states, “this is not a staffing concern”. When those options are checked, the form is the routed to the correct entities to address as these items would fall outside of the purview of the staffing committee.

Check it out if you haven't already!

Negotiations

We are very rapidly approaching negotiations for a new PIMC contract and anticipate sitting down with management and their counsel very quickly after negotiations with St. Joseph’s in Bellingham has been completed. Thank you for completing the survey as this helps guide your team. While we do not have any confirmed dates on the books yet, we anticipate that this process will move quickly. When we do have dates reserved, we will be making asks of all of you with simple things like wear a sticker and snap a photo to text to a member of your team to show support for the work they do at the table.

Facebook

In preparation for negotiations and to help facilitate communication, we have established a Facebook group just for PIMC nurses. This Facebook group is private, and you must be approved to join. This group will allow postings and input from all of you that will not be visible to the public. Julie Bielau has graciously accepted the position of group moderator. This means that post negotiation session updates and other news will likely reach each of you quicker than the email updates from the WSNA office. (You do not have to join the Facebook group to receive information – we will still provide updates via email.) Please watch your inbox for invitations to join.

In solidarity,

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Sue Dunlap at sdunlap@wsna.org.