At a hospital without running water, Asheville’s Mission Hospital and its union of nurses have come to a long-awaited agreement, ratifying a new three-year contract just two weeks after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the city. 

The nurses union began negotiating with HCA on a new contract more than six months ago. Nurses have been working under an expired contract at Mission Hospital since early July. In early September, 97% of the 1,600 unionized nurses in Asheville voted to authorize a strike, should it become necessary. Though the union staged pickets over the summer, a strike never materialized. 

This new contract — which includes wage increases of up to 29% over the three-year term of the contract — apparently satisfies nurses’ concerns about patient safety, understaffing and nurse retention. 

The contract includes the guarantee nurses will not be temporarily reassigned to unfamiliar units, the launch of a pilot program ensuring meal and rest breaks for nurses during shifts and protections for nurses who wish to go by chosen names or include personal pronouns on their name badges.

Another big win is the installation of metal detectors at the main and emergency entrances of the hospital. Nurses at Mission once found a loaded gun on a patient who was in the hospital for weeks.

The hospital has been operating under crisis conditions for two weeks in the wake of Helene. Tending to an overrun emergency room without running water has been trying for nurses and administrators alike.

This bargaining session between HCA and the Asheville union was already on the calendar before the storm hit.

“They were certainly in a position to take advantage of us,” Asheville nurse Jeanne Mould told Carolina Public Press.

“Nurses were in survival mode. The whole community was vulnerable. When you’re in survival mode, it’s hard to think about being able to successfully strike, especially when they’re threatening a five-day lockout.”

A lockout is a defensive measure a company can take during a strike: taking back negotiating power by not letting employees back across the picket line when they are done striking. It is only feasible when enough labor is still in place for the company to be operational. Mission Health brought in legions of nurses from all over the country to aid the hospital after Helene.

“We made a lot of movements on some important matters, but no, we did not get everything we asked for in our contract,” Mould said.

Mould emphasized that she is proud of much of the contract, specifically the guarantee of uninterrupted lunch breaks.

“The devastation Hurricane Helene brought to our region underscores how Mission being the best possible version of itself is more important than ever,” Asheville nurse Huns Brown said in a statement. 

HCA met with nurses from 17 of its hospitals across six states last week in Orlando. At each of these hospitals, nurses were working under expired contracts and stalled negotiations. Asheville nurse Hannah Drummond left her long post-storm shift to fly to Florida to attend this meeting. 

HCA spokesperson Nancy Lindell declined to comment on how the storm, the stressed conditions at the hospital and the meeting in Orlando impacted negotiations. 

“We are pleased to announce that Mission Hospital has a ratified contract with National Nurses United (NNU),” Lindell told CPP in an email. “As we indicated all along, our goal was to reach an agreement that was fair for our colleagues and maintained the flexibility that allows us to operate in an ever-changing healthcare environment, and this contract meets those goals.

“Now, as our Western North Carolina community comes together to heal from Hurricane Helene, we are eager to move forward together in providing high-quality care to our patients.”

Although nurses voted to ratify a new contract this week, CPP spoke with two nurses who expressed frustration about Mission and HCA’s lack of preparedness in the face of Tropical Storm Helene.

Both Drummond and fellow nurse Kerri Wilson said the hospital had not conducted a disaster drill in years. Mission was threatening to suspend disaster pay for any nurses who leave the hospital, Drummond said. 

However, Tori Woody, the charge nurse of the emergency department, told CPP that Mission Health has conducted three mass casualty drills in the past year.

Even so, Woody spent seven days straight at the hospital following Helene. Mission’s mass casualty drills account for problems with cell service, internet and electricity, but do not address lack of running water.

“No one was prepared for just how bad this storm was,” Woody said. “But I think the hospital was as prepared as we could be.”

Wilson said she was concerned that Mission was prioritizing the nurses they brought in from out of state, leaving Asheville nurses off the schedule. Drummond and Wilson also spoke about workplace violence and unchecked patient visitation after the storm. 

“Things like this highlight problems that were already there and make them more evident,” Wilson told Carolina Public Press. 

However, as of this week, it appears those concerns have been quelled or taken a backseat to the broader question of a contract.

“Mission Hospital is so important to Asheville and all of western North Carolina,” Drummond said in an official statement. 

“This contract is another step forward to making Mission the hospital it needs to be for our patients. Nurses are the backbone of Mission Hospital, and this contract adds steel to our spine.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include information from additional sources that became available after the article was first posted.

Source: This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Photo by Павел Сорокин: https://www.pexels.com/photo/surgeons-performing-surgery-2324837/