BFMC nurses thank community
As registered nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, we extend our heartfelt thanks to our community for the incredible support we saw at our April 7 informational picket. We are especially grateful to the community members, elected officials, and local leaders who stood with us in support of safe patient care and keeping care local.
Your presence demonstrated that our community values having a strong, local hospital staffed by award-winning nurses who know and care deeply about our patients. At a rural hospital like BFMC, nurses do far more than people might realize. Unlike larger urban hospitals with specialized teams and extensive resources, we often step into multiple roles throughout a single shift by providing IV care, wound care, and more to ensure our patients receive the comprehensive care they need close to home. That kind of flexibility and experience is built over time and is essential to safe care in our community.
That’s why we remain concerned about Baystate’s proposal to tie using non-union float nurses unfamiliar with the realities of rural care to keeping our existing nurse-patient limits. This approach risks creating gaps in care and placing additional strain on the nurses who are committed to this community. We are also urging Baystate to invest in competitive RN wages so that BFMC can recruit and retain the nurses needed to keep our hospital thriving far into the future.
We are proud to care for our neighbors, friends, and families. With your continued support, we can secure a fair contract that helps recruit and retain nurses and sustains access to high-quality, local care. Thank you for standing with us. Sign our petition at www.massnurses.org/FranklinCommunity.
Nicole Schneider, on behalf of the BFMC MNA Bargaining Committee
Greenfield