Mercy Medical Center Nurses to Hold Informational Picket in Springfield on July 17 to Protest Trinity Health's Closure of Intermediate Care Beds and Other Broken Promises Impacting Patients and Staff

Michigan-based Trinity Health, a national hospital corporation, has "temporarily" closed multiple Mercy Medical Center services after artificially creating a staffing crisis

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., July 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Mercy Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will hold an informational picket outside the hospital on July 17 in response to corporate owner Trinity Health recently closing 20 intermediate care beds, "temporarily" closing other essential services without any indication they will be re-opened, and creating a staffing and patient care crisis.

Informational Picket Details
When: Monday, July 17 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: On the sidewalk outside Mercy Medical Center on Carew Street in Springfield.
Who: Nurses, colleagues, and community supporters will picket and talk to the public about how Trinity's detached corporate management is jeopardizing patient care quality and access.

"Trinity Health has broken promises to the Springfield community by taking over our local hospital while claiming to be 'mission-driven,' but then closing services, refusing to adequately staff and making it harder for patients to receive quality care," said Jaime Hyatt, RN, Co-Chair of the Mercy Medical Center MNA Bargaining Committee. "Mercy patients and staff deserve better than Trinity's heartless corporate ownership."

"Mercy Medical Center nurses and the community are standing up to Trinity Health's broken promises on behalf of our patients," said Dee Doyle, RN, Co-Chair of the Mercy Medical Center MNA Bargaining Committee. "Trinity is completely detached from the needs of local patients and caregivers. The lack of management is hurting our ability to provide quality care and work in a safe environment."

Michigan-based Trinity Health – a national hospital corporation that made $21.5 billion last year – has systematically dismantled essential healthcare services at Mercy Medical Center and Providence Behavioral Health Hospital over the past decade.

• Trinity recently "temporarily" closed 20 of its intermediate care beds without notice to nurses or our union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
• Trinity claims the closure is necessary due to a lack of staffing. But this was really an artificial problem created by Trinity. Hospital management stopped a longstanding shift incentive bonus and has failed to hire nurses and other staff, causing a crisis.
• The closure follows other "temporary" closures of respiratory and neuro-ortho services at Mercy. Those closures have been prolonged, with no indication they will be re-opened.
• Trinity followed the same game plan at Providence Hospital. Management artificially lowered census by diverting admissions and refusing to staff appropriately. It then systematically closed child, adult, and geriatric psychiatric beds and sold the hospital to a for-profit company.
• There is a serious lack of leadership at Mercy Medical Center. Management is splitting its time between Springfield and another Trinity facility, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, CT, and not addressing the concerns of nurses and other staff.

Financial Growth at Trinity Health

In February 2023, Trinity issued a statement titled, "Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest health care systems, continues to grow strategically with reported operating revenue of $10.5 billion, an increase of 2.3 Percent." The growth came even though it saw a reduction of $129.3 million in CARES Act PRF grants year over year, according to Trinity. Despite reporting an operating loss during the first six months of FY2023, Trinity highlighted several financial strengths:

• Total assets of $30.9 billion and net assets of $17.0 billion.
• Unrestricted cash and investments of $9.8 billion.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association