Registered nurses and clinicians who work for MaineHealth Care at Home (MHCAH) in Portland held a rally and speak-out today to demand the removal of the management team at the home health services agency. The pediatric nurses and clinicians, including physical therapists, occupational therapists and social workers, are represented by Maine State Nurses Association, an affiliate of the National Nurses United.
Over the past year, MHCAH, employees have been meeting with senior management about the refusal to implement necessary changes to improve patient safety and working conditions as well as their abusive behavior and toxic work environment. The clinicians say they have receied no support from the current management tema.
On Friday, July 7, MHCAH management targeted and unjustly terminated two long-time nurses who worked in MHCAH’s pediatric department. Management has lied about the reasons for the suspensions and terminations. A few weeks earlier, management had suspended four additional clinicians as well.
“At every turn we have spoken loudly and clearly to our management to advocate for the health ad safety of our most vulnerable patients,” said Marybeth Gagne, RN, chief union representative at the facility and one of the terminated employees. “MaineHealth and MalneHealth Care at Home want to silence us as cliniians and as union leaders. They know that we will always use our voice to speak up for our patients and ourselves.”
The problems created by the current management of MaineHalth Care at Home are not new, but they have now reached a boiling point, resulting in a staffing crisis and long delays in patient visits and missed care.
As a result of these chronic issues, two entire departments consisting of about 10% of the agency’s workforce resigned earlier this year, as well as many clinicians at the York office of MHCAH who either resigned or were fired.
A petition of “No Confidence” signed by most every employee at the Agency and delivered to MHCAH mangement on Monday, July 10 stated: “The loss of these colleagues has severley impacted patient care and our ability to accept new patients. Before these valued colleagues left several of them voiced their serious concerns to this management team and with Human Resources. However, they did not believe their concerns were taken seriously. They felt it was in their best interest to leave the organization entirely.
The petition concluded with a demand that management immediately reinstate the clinicians who were unjustly terminated by MHCAH’s management and make the additional suspended staff whole for any losses they had because of their suspensions.
The Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA) repreents 4,000 nurses and caregivers from Portand to Presque Isle, including the nurses at Maine Medical Center, another MaineHealth affililate.