Essentia Nurses To Picket Friday, Call Staffing Levels ‘Disastrous’

DULUTH, Minn. — Essentia nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association are headed back to the picket line this week amid continued concerns over what they call “disastrous staffing levels.”

It’s been six months since nurses at Essentia reached a new contract that gave them more input in the staffing process.  But the Minnesota Nurses Association says Essentia executives aren’t listening and instead are putting profits before patients.

MNA announced Monday that nurses will hold an informational picket Friday outside the new St. Mary’s Medical Center in downtown Duluth from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m.   This is the same day Essentia will hold a community open house before it welcomes its first patient on July 30.

MNA nurses will not be walking off the job or negatively affecting hospital operations during the picket, according to a statement.

The nurses association is specifically calling out Essentia CEO David Herman to fix the problem. They believe Essentia is proposing “dramatic cuts to the number of nurses scheduled for each shift even as the number of patients increases.”

Meanwhile, Essentia Health says it works closely with all of its care teams, including nurses, to ensure staffing best meet patients’ needs.  Essentia says those practices have led Essentia to be consistently ranked as one of the highest-quality health systems in the state.

Essentia employees with United Steelworkers Local 9460 are also holding an informational picket Friday outside the new medical center. Click here for that union’s statement.

Below is Essentia’s full statement sent to FOX 21 Monday:

“At Essentia Health, we work closely with all of our care teams, including nurses, to ensure we are staffing to best meet our patients’ needs. These practices have led to Essentia consistently being ranked as one of the highest-quality health systems in the state. St. Mary’s Medical Center is rated a five-star hospital by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an honor shared by 14% of health care facilities nationwide in 2022.

Our staffing assignments are made in collaboration with our nurses and take into account our patients’ level of illness and their care needs, along with national benchmarks. Nurses are supported by the rest of the care team, so they can focus on our patients and work at the highest level of their training.

We are committed to ensuring our nurses are properly supported to deliver the expert care our patients expect from us, and this is illustrated by retention rates far better than the national average. Essentia is continuously exploring innovative ways to attract more nurses, which has helped us hire more than 800 nurses in the past year alone.

We respect nurses’ right to conduct informational picketing. We look forward to welcoming our community on Friday to celebrate our replacement St. Mary’s Medical Center. This state-of-the-art facility will enhance the care environment for patients and staff, help us recruit and retain talented caregivers, and serve our community for generations to come.”