Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The back and forth between the union representing nurses at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo and Catholic Health continues and the looming Friday strike deadline has administrators at the hospital taking steps to prepare for the possible disruption that may result from a strike.
Catholic Health, in anticipating a possible strike by members of CWA Local 1133, is making adjustments by diverting ambulances starting Wednesday as well as suspending labor and delivery services.
Catholic Health says it is diverting ambulances from Mercy Hospital and Mercy Ambulatory Care Center in conjunction with the state health department.
"While Mercy Hospital and the MACC will go on temporary diversion to incoming ambulances, this does not mean the hospital's Emergency Department and the MACC will be closed to walk-in patients. We will continue to serve all patients who enter our doors for emergency care. This temporary diversion status informs local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers that the hospital cannot take patients brought in by ambulances at this time and they should take them to alternate facilities," says Catholic Health in a statement.
Catholic Health notes if a patient is unstable and Mercy is the closest appropriate hospital, or if a patient specifically requests to be taken to Mercy Hospital, EMS has the option of bringing the patient to Mercy Hospital.
Catholic Health says it will accept ambulances and offer inpatient and outpatient elective surgeries at Sisters of Charity Hospital and its St. Joseph Campus, Kenmore Mercy Hospital, and Mount St. Mary's Hospital.
Additionally, in conjunction with the New York State Department of Health, Mercy Hospital will be suspending labor and delivery services at the hospital beginning at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday. Catholic Health will continue to offer labor and delivery services at Sisters of Charity Hospital's Main Street Campus and Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston.
While labor and delivery services will be temporarily closed at Mercy, the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will remain open to care for babies currently in the unit. The hospital will also continue to care for mothers who delivered prior to the closure for the duration of their hospital stay.
CWA Local 1133 has scheduled a strike on Friday and reports there have been some productive discussions, but say diverting ambulances doesn;t solve staffing issues.
In a statement late Tuesday, CWA said: "The bargaining committee met until 11:00 PM on Monday night, and while there have been some productive conversations around wages, Catholic Health has yet to put forth a proposal and continues to refuse to introduce safe staffing ratios. Nurses in the cardiovascular ICU -- one of the most stressful and urgent units dealing with patients with cardiac events -- regularly have staffing ratios of 1 nurse to 3 patients. This is incredibly dangerous, and they fear for patient deaths every day because they do not have the capacity to be constantly monitoring each patient with a ratio that high."
