(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- More nurses are speaking out about staffing shortages and discipline being meted out to others who’ve spoken out at a hospital in Joliet.
An Illinois nurses group expects a fourth nurse to be turned away from St. Joseph Medical Center for speaking out last weekend against what the group says is drastically low staffing levels.
The Illinois Nurses Association has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the Joliet hospital.
Emergency Department nurse Hannah Puhr says the administration is not addressing staffing issues.
“That can’t happen anymore. Our patients are suffering. We are suffering. And, we’re we’re done with it,” she says.
Intensive Care Unit nurse Heather Johnson says she was recently assigned more patients than was safe. She says the safety max should be two ICU patients per nurse, but she and others were assigned four patients each.
“I’m frankly embarrassed by the care that I gave. You know, these are people’s mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and I couldn’t give them my best and it hurts.”
Labor and delivery nurse Andrea Miller adds: “We are feeling the pinch. It’s hard to retain nurses when you see that you can make $10 or more [an hour] at another facility.”
John Fitzgerald of the Illinois Nurses Association says a GoFundMe page has been set up for the nurses who were disciplined over the weekend for complaining about staffing shortages.
WBBM Newsradio has reached out to Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center for a response.
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