ER workers at Detroit hospital contemplate strike, citing long hours and lack of staff
(CBS DETROIT) - It's not every day that our health care providers walk off the job and onto the picket line. Now, over 40 workers at Ascension St. John Hospital are contemplating taking bold measures.
For them, it's to make sure things are running smoothly inside.
"We're a huge stroke center, cardiovascular center, trauma center, but we are worried that we are about to be unable to meet some of those national standards if current practices continue," said Dr. John Bahling.
It's a serious situation unfolding at Ascension St. John Hospital, where ER workers tell our team they are overworked and understaffed.
For six months, the union has been in negotiations. After failed contract negotiations, they may be walking off the job.
"We went into medicine to heal people and not to have to beg for resources and beg them to give us what we need to treat the community that we are a part of," said Casey Kolp, physician assistant.
CBS News Detroit is told TeamHealth and St. John Emergency Services manage the facility. Workers say over the last decade, things like staffing and pay have gone down.
In 2015, TeamHealth, which is owned by the Private Equity firm Blackstone Group, became involved in the management of the ER.
Employees allege wages, benefits, staffing levels, and investments in medical equipment and upgrades have declined.
A global pandemic didn't help either.
"I think what the pandemic did was pull back some of the layers or problems that we maybe didn't see initially, and some of the policy that persisted through should have been changed," Bahling said.
One major concern that workers have is wait times. Some allege wait times have ballooned from 10 to 15 hours because of low staff.
We're told some employees feel it prevents them from making the best medical decisions because they're on the go.
"Every time we walk into a patient's room, my first words are usually, 'I'm so sorry you had to wait this long. Let's talk,'" Kolp said.
We reached out to TeamHealth, which released the following statement:
"For more than 40 years, TeamHealth has strived to provide clinicians with the support and resources they need to deliver the highest quality care to patients and the communities they serve. TeamHealth has negotiated in good faith with Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians union. Any statements to the contrary are misleading.
"In regard to their assertion that patients at the ED at Ascension St. John often have 10-15 hour wait times for care, in 2023, the median door-to-doctor wait time was 25 minutes, and, in 2024, that has declined to 17 minutes."
"We are committed to keeping this dialogue open to ensure clinicians are valued and patients at St. John Hospital receive the critical emergency care they require."
For frontline workers, these issues stem nationwide.
"We have 80 beds or so in our ER dept. but half the time, the beds are closed with a full waiting room, with patients begging for care," Bahling said.
The negotiations will continue in the meantime. Workers say aggressive engagement is needed in correcting some of the problems. If changes aren't made, they'll have no choice but to strike.
The union needs the community's help and has created a website.
