Cafeteria Time: Tuesday, April 2, 1130-1500

Join us at the hospital cafeteria to meet with your WSNA Nurse Rep as well as your amazing officers on Tuesday, April 2nd from 1130 to 1500! We will be available to answer questions, discuss issues and hand out WSNA swag, and you can sign up to win a Fred Meyer gift card!

Upcoming MOU Vote: Palliative Care

We are excited to welcome the Palliative Care nurses to the St. Joseph Medical Center WSNA bargaining unit! After months of negotiations between your dedicated team of officers, the Palliative nurses and hospital management, we have reached a tentative agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will officially integrate the Palliative nurses into our contract. The tentative vote date will be April 10, so please keep an eye out for more information on location and times. Your local unit officers recommend a "yes" vote!

What have your officers been up to?

Your local unit officers have been hard at work to help address issues throughout the hospital. Here's some updates on what they have been involved in:

• Roll out of new IV catheters: Officers raised a multitude of staff concerns about being forced to change to the Introcan IV catheter in our monthly Conference Committee meeting with management. We were informed last week by Roseanna Bell that a new product will be trialed starting next month.
• Unsafe sharps containers: Officers initiated an investigation into the sharps containers being placed and maintained in a manner that was unsafe and could lead to needlestick injuries. The hospital surveyed all of their sharps containers and relocated the ones that were out of compliance.
• Electronic low census form: Officers collaborated with Rooney from staffing to create a new online way to request low census instead of having to call and leave a message with staffing. This makes it easier and more convenient to request voluntary low census in advance. You can make a request via the online form up to one hour before the start of your shift.
• Insurance change and loss of Virgin Pulse: We are still hearing reports of the negative effects of FCN dropping UMR. In our latest update from management, they have still not selected the insurance they will offer next year but anticipate doing so by mid-spring. They reported that they are in the final selection process between three different options of Wellness Plans to replace Virgin Pulse, with the goal of rolling out a new plan in the summer.

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Rep. Grace Chesterman at gchesterman@wsna.org.