26 January 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Registered nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis are going to be rallying on the National Day of Action by National Nurses United (NNU) to demand the hospital industry ends their profession’s staffing crisis by providing safe numbers of nurses to care for patients, according to the NNU.
“In last month’s New York Times article, the entire world got to see just how dire the situation is at Ascension facilities,” said Shelly Rader, an emergency department RN at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis. “But we see it everyday, and it’s time for change.”
“We’re perpetually short-staffed,” said Sara Wilson, an Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Ortho/Trauma Surgery nurse. “Management needs to get serious about retaining nurses and recruiting new ones to replace the nurses they’ve driven away from this facility.”
The rally will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, on the sidewalk on E. Murdock Ave. in front of Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, 929 N Saint Francis St.
This is not the first time an NNU affiliate has gone on strike.
According to the NNU, one of the most recent and notable strikes happened in September 2022 when “12,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, also an affiliate of NNU, participated in the largest private-sector strike in nursing history, ultimately winning contracts that will give nurses a say in how staffing levels are set for the benefit of nurses and their patients.”