The more than 100 nurses who work at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in Oakland voted unanimously this week to authorize a strike amid growing concerns over understaffing that they say has led to the closure of dozens of beds throughout the facility.
Understaffing, the nurses said, has resulted in beds closing on almost every floor of the hospital, reducing access for patients who need treatment. Meanwhile, patients are increasingly not being placed in units that specialize in their particular diagnosis or provided with appropriate treatment.
“When I first started, we had 28 beds in our unit, with one wing serving children, one wing serving adolescents and another wing serving adults,” said Zachariah Flynn, who has been a nurse in Western Psych’s Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders for more than 11 years. “Now, UPMC has completely shut down the units for kids and adolescents due to understaffing, and we’re reduced to only 11 beds. We can’t admit a lot of the patients seeking care, and so they have to wait months for backlogged outpatient appointments.”
The nurses, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union, are bargaining a contract with UPMC after their previous agreement expired on Sept. 30. They said they have brought proposals to the table that would improve patient care, including better minimum staffing levels, higher wages for entry-level nurses and compensation aimed at retaining experienced employees.
UPMC, however, has rejected many of their proposals, they said. In an emailed statement, UPMC said, “UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital is committed to supporting our employees, patients and community. Contract negotiations between the parties are ongoing, and the hospital continues to bargain in good faith.”
The nurses said they plan to hold a “rally for mental health” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the hospital at the corner of DeSoto and O’Hara streets that they hope will move UPMC toward negotiating a contract that will improve services. If it does not, the nurses said, they will set a strike date.
The approximately 115 Western Psych nurses treat patients of all ages struggling with mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, eating disorders, substance use disorder and autism. According to the union, 123 nurses have left the facility in the past three years — a more than a 100% turnover rate in that time — and many positions remain unfilled. The challenges the nurses describe at Western Psych come as the state and country face a growing mental health crisis. Nearly 34% of Pennsylvanians have a mental health or substance abuse disorder, according to a Behavioral Health Commission report from the state.
According to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, the commonwealth has a shortfall of 6,330 mental health professionals, the third most in the United States.
The Western Psych nurses said that UPMC has the resources to improve the conditions at the hospital, noting the health giant’s billions of dollars in revenue and millions of dollars it avoids paying in property taxes because of its nonprofit status.
The anger the nurses feel has grown recently, they said, with news reports of UPMC leasing a $50 million luxury jet months before announcing 1,000 layoffs and an almost $18 million payment to its retired CEO last year.
“UPMC execs have the gall to look us in the eyes and say they don’t have the resources to retain staff, even though their luxury jet was flying back and forth to Boca Raton, where they don’t even have a hospital,” Flynn said. “I feel like UPMC is not only disrespecting nurses but every Western Pennsylvania family who has a loved one struggling with autism or a mental health issue.”
Andrew writes about education and more for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at agoldstein@unionprogress.com.