Armstrong County Memorial Hospital Nurses Rally On Day 2 Of Strike
By: Shelley Bortz/KDKA-TV
KITTANNING, Pa. (KDKA) -- A two-day strike by hundreds of nurses forced the closing of the operating rooms at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital.
After months of negotiations, some 220 nurses walked off the job on Sunday at 7 a.m.
"They canceled all their surgeries because all of the OR nurses are out here supporting us," said Sandra Harrison.
Harrison, along with dozens of picketers, took to the street in front of the hospital for day two of the strike on Monday. Harrison, who has worked at ACMH for 39 years, said she's had enough.
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, health care workers were praised for risking their lives to save others. Now, they feel "burned out from short-staffing" and "underappreciated."
"We do not want to be out here. We want to be in there taking care of our patients, taking care of our community because that's in our hearts," said Harrison.
The operating rooms are now closed at ACMH, and those patients are being sent to other hospitals. The departments that remain open are being staffed by a temporary nursing agency.
Nurse anesthetist Christen Rearick said, "We cannot pour from an empty cup anymore. We don't have enough staff to get breaks while we're here pulling 12-, 14-, 16-, 24-, I personally have worked numerous 32-hour shifts at a time because we are so critically short-staffed."
The group of nurses has garnered a lot of support, including from Lt. Governor John Fetterman. He told KDKA-TV that the frontline heroes absolutely deserve better.
"They couldn't be praised enough and they deserve the praise for what they did through the pandemic," Fetterman said. "And now is our opportunity and the administrators' opportunity to say thank you for your sacrifice, for putting your health and your family's health at frontline risk and make sure the adequate levels of staffing are met."
Representative Connor Lamb also sent the nurses a special video message in support of the strike. He said leaders in Washington, D.C. are working hard for them and fighting for safer staffing.
