BUFFALO (WBEN) - Right now, more than 2,000 CWA members are striking at Mercy Hospital, and one of their main objectives for the next contract is to get Catholic Health to commit to better staffing.
However, the staffing problem is not exclusive to Mercy Hospital - it's currently a national issue.
"This is a national crisis," said Catholic Health CEO Mark Sullivan Friday afternoon. "I've been here 30 years, and there hasn't been one year when there hasn't been a staffing challenge."
On Friday, Senior Vice President of Kaleida Health Mike Hughes discussed the staffing issues facing the healthcare industry, as Buffalo General hosted a job fair.
"It's a very competitive environment, whether that's for healthcare or overall for the workforce," said Hughes. "The last few weeks, few months, as we've come out of COVID, we've had peaks and valleys of it, and the recruiting has become extremely competitive, so we've had to do some unique and different things."
According to the Associated Press, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a nurse staffing crisis that is forcing many U.S. hospitals to pay top dollar to get the help they need to handle the crush of patients this summer.
"You would hope this is just an aberration," said Hughes of the strike at Mercy and how similar situations could affect recruiting in the healthcare industry.
