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RRMC nurses rally as contract talks resume Nurses from Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center and their family members hold signs as they rally Thursday at the entrance to the Hilton Garden Inn in Medford. [Mail Tribune / Andy Atkinson] Thursday Jul 27, 2017 at 1:05 PM Jul 27, 2017 at 2:58 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness More than 200 nurses and family members gathered outside the Hilton Garden Inn in Medford this morning in advance of federally mediated contract talks with Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. Nearly 900 nurses at the hospital have worked without a contract since June 30, when a three-year pact between the Oregon Nurses Association bargaining unit and Asante expired. The rally, held in the cool morning hours, implicitly turned up the heat on contract negotiations that began in May. The last session was July 7, but new talks were to be begin today. First and foremost, the union is asking Asante to acknowledge problem areas and devote additional resources, said emergency room nurse and negotiating team member David Baca. "We need to have an established system where nurses can take their breaks and take their lunches that doesn't put the patients at risk," Baca said prior to the mediation session. "We are looking for a firm commitment from the hospital if additional resources are needed to make that happen." The risk factor became apparent to Intensive Care Unit nurse Kelly Church when she was watching additional patients while another nurse was on break. "The patient (who was on a ventilator) pulled their breathing tube out while I was watching four patients," Church said. "It all ended up OK, and we handled the emergency situation like we do on a daily basis, but it just created a huge risk for that patient. It was an issue because I was watching someone else's patients, and my own." Asante has had double-digit gains in operating revenue in recent years, Baca said. With that in mind, the nurses are hoping the same community spirit that launched the hospital nearly 60 years ago will surface again. "If we could satisfy the goals in our procedural areas, to where our nurses weren't working more than 16 hours in surgery or in the cardiac cath lab; if our nurses who were meant to do emergency cases on the weekend weren't called to do nonemergency cases; if we could get the coverage for our meals and breaks safely without feeling like your patient is at risk because they may not be monitored appropriately, then we could sign and get this done," Baca said. While the union representatives spelled out their concerns, hospital administrators played things close to the vest, declining to elaborate on Asante's position on any issues in play. On Wednesday, human resources chief Paul Macuga, who joined Asante earlier this year, succinctly stated the hospital's position. "Our goal is a fair contract, and we have every reason to believe we can achieve that," said Macuga, whose title at Asante is chief people officer. "Our position is that we don't negotiate in public, and that work is done at the bargaining table." In 2011, the union accepted a 1 percent annual pay raise and agreed to let Asante implement its preferred health insurance policy. "We did it because we believed in the hospital, and they've been great with health care," Baca said. Tom Espinosa, an intensive care nurse for more than 20 years, said Asante could step up its support  for its staff in other ways. "As an industry providing for people's health and well-being, we need to provide for families' health and well being," Espinosa said. "With the skimpy interpretation of the Oregon Family Leave Act this hospital has chosen to take, it's not as family-friendly of an environment as it could be. More and more of us are not only taking care of our own children, but taking care of our parents as well. As a caring industry, we need to provide for that. The nurses are not only here for the community's sick, but their own as well." Tonsnia Wells, a critical care nursing resource team member who moves between units, said her group has backed Asante's initiatives, which have made Asante one of the nation's Top 15 health systems, according to Truven Health Analytics. "We're constantly having to up our game, try evidence-based practice initiatives, and constantly moving and changing and doing everything that the hospital requires, and going above and beyond that," Wells said. "For all of our efforts, we want to see a little bit back." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.