Derek Barris (17:55)

It's January 9th, one day before the historic healthcare strike where doctors, nurses, midwives, nurse practitioners, PAs are going to strike because Providence, which could have avoided this by bargaining in good faith after over a year from lot of us has refused to Managers are telling people that they can't talk to unionized workers on the strike line at one clinic. They're saying if they strike it's just going to show that the clinic does just fine without the providers and maybe the clinic will just keep going or maybe it'll close and it's all their fault. They're taking out full page ads in the Oregonian where they're making up complete lies trying to do a public smear campaign about us. They're doubling down because they know they have to scare us because that's all they have to stand on and they're scared because they see how unified we are. I mean, look at this letter from the Senate president, House speaker they sent to the Providence execs saying, you all better get back and take care of the people who take care of the people. So my message to you today is be strong. Don't believe the bs. If they say something that sounds scary or weird, reach out to your union representative. Tomorrow is our day, unfortunately, because Providence is doing nothing to prevent it. But we are in the right here because we are trying to take care of patients, and that will always win. Stay strong, my friends.

Jennifer Lincoln (19:00)

The first day on the strike line was very emotional and very energetic. I talked to a lot more people than I recorded, but everyone had each other's backs, which is really important in situations like this. Jennifer has been posting on a daily basis with the updates. Here's the Day 6 update, because as it turns out, Providence has been paying somewhere. There's no definitive number, but between 14 and $24 million a week for the replacements, nurses who apparently were flown up from the south. And here, Dr. Lincoln explains a little bit about what that situation is going on inside. And I want you again to remember that everyone I talk to, the people I've been following online, when I talk to reps at the Oregon Nurses association, they're really just looking for worker protections so that they can provide the best care. They want to be in working with patients, but they can't because this has been going on for over a year and a half since they've been asking for simple protections. So when you hear Jennifer talk about some of the things going inside, just keep that in mind that this isn't any sort of schadenfreude happening. They don't want those nurses in there working there. She's just trying to explain this, the reality of what patients are dealing with, because Providence cannot provide for its workers. Okay, let's listen.

Derek Barris (20:31)

Okay. So the replacement nurses are even like, don't come here. You're saying they've never had such unsafe working conditions. And the assignments and the acuity have been so unsafe. It's almost like the reason that we're striking is what they don't like. We appreciate your honesty. And now on Tales from the Inside. All of this stuff I have permission to post. This is from someone who had a baby during the strike who said the nurses weren't taking my pressures when needed. Instead, they would shut the machine down to stop the cuff from doing the test. The numbers would look better later. That's not how it works. She also said most of these replacement nurses come from the south and don't understand our culture here in Oregon. Put a pin in that, as they say in corporate America. She then goes on to say that nurses are being put in places that they don't have experience in. And this replacement day nurse nurse doesn't normally do postpartum care and was missing things. This person says it's been a shit show without the normal staff, but that they support us being out there to get better for our patients. Remember that whole Pacific Northwest culture? Let's just say that some of the nurses don't understand reproductive rights and how they apply to bodily autonomy and how our patients can access certain things here. That's all I'm going to say about that. It's been shared that the nurses who work on labor and delivery don't know how to work the OR equipment, including the very special, special equipment that tells you exactly how much blood a patient has lost. Kind of important. There was a CNA who quit after the replacement nurses were mocking him because he was alerting them to the bed alarms that were saying, hey, these patients need help. And they were making fun of him for caring. And he said, f you. And he quit. One surgeon shared with me that she had a surgery and the nurses prepared nothing that is normally done. And she was told she would have to do everything for this day surgery procedure, which is not how it normally works and slowed down the entire OR flow day. Now let's move on to how Providence is staffing these replacement nurses. Because it's so interesting that Providence can have the right number of nurses on staff when they're replacements who are ridiculously more expensive than when their regular nurses are there. And they say, I'm so sorry, we can't do it. So in the prov Milwaukee icu, they have six beds. They were staffed with nine nurses. This never happens when it's the regular people there. PRAV. Milwaukee Emergency Department has 21 beds. And the day before the strike, 19 of the 21 beds were patients boarding, which means that these are patients who are admitted but didn't have a room yet, which is a huge problem. But interestingly, on day one of the strike, all those patients had a place to go and the ER was fine.

Jennifer Lincoln (22:40)

I can't imagine what the thinking is that you would not take care of your employees, but you'll hire scabs and pay them what you should actually be paying your employees who can't deliver the same quality service, obviously, because they're coming as Dr. Lincoln said from other states. They don't know the territory and it's really just hard to listen to because again, as a Providence patient, I'm glad I'm not in any of the hospitals right now. Having to deal with this and imagine being someone who's pregnant, having to work with these nurses who you know are in over their heads. I don't know them. And I'm not going to make judgment calls about crossing a picket line because working is a difficult thing to do in America, unfortunately. And sometimes you take opportunities wherever you can. And I have seen no ill will toward the nurses who are going in from the narcissist nurses on the picket line. What it boils down to is the nurses who are striking and the hospitalists and the doctors and everyone else just want to feel as if they're valued as people and taken care of, which I think they deserve. When I was over at St. Vincent, I talked to a man named Daniel who is a bedside nurse. And here's what he told me when I asked him what the number thing. Number one, I want Providence to realize.

Daniel (24:12)

That the healthcare staff at the bedside are not second class citizens and we deserve to have a stake at the table that's respected and honored in the process of making sure that our patients are cared for. We bring meaningful perspectives and we bring lots of experience and we bring data. We're a data driven entity. I can't come to you and say that this is good or bad based on my feelings. We can show you the research that this is an appreciable thing for us to have paid increases in safe staffing levels. And that needs to be heard and respected and that needs to come to the table on a contract that we can stand next to and appreciate and support and say yes to.

Jennifer Lincoln (24:51)

I had asked a group of women in the area if they wanted to talk and no one wanted to go on camera. But then they turned and called Daniel over and they promised him a beer for doing that one. Apparently that was the second interview they pushed off on him that day. I hope you got your beers, Daniel. I also talked to George, who is an endoscopy nurse over at my hospital in Portland proper, and I asked him the same question about what he was looking for. The number one thing, here's what he said.

George (25:19)

The thing I would like is an improvement in our health insurance. We have one of the worst health insurance policies of any hospital in the area. And without any explanation, Providence actually just dropped us off their own health insurance plan and moved us to an AETNA plan. We don't know why. They didn't even give us an explanation.

Jennifer Lincoln (25:36)

And Aetna just recently dropped Providence.

George (25:39)

Yes. Which is extremely puzzling. So, Ben, Providence has made an exception. So we can still go to Providence facilities on Aetna insurance. It's very confusing, but you know, people are having to change providers. If they were going to a non Providence provider, Providence covered, but Aetna doesn't. So there's been a lot of disruption. We have high deductibles. It's just not a competitive health plan compared to the other hospitals in the area.

Jennifer Lincoln (26:06)

Just imagine your own employer, which is health care system, dropping you from their insurance and pushing you off to an insurer who has just dropped your health care system. And then they need to make an exception. This is so ass backwards, it's unbelievable. Finally, over at St. Vincent's I talked to an older man who was talking about his grandson and the care that his daughter received at Providence. I unfortunately was not recording when he told me his name. So I do not remember and I apologize for that. But I thought it was nice to hear from someone who is just talking about the exceptional care that he received and why he decided to go on the strike line to support the people that helped his family. And you'll probably hear in his voice, we talked for a lot longer that I'm sharing this moment from. But tears were in his eyes the entire time as he remembered about what his daughter went through.

Daniel (27:03)

Thing that stands out too is that it wasn't just medical that they did. The love and nurturing and the way they helped my daughter get through the anxiety of all this happening to her. The mental aspect of what these ladies do is equal or ahead. And sometimes of the medical procedures and the combination of the two is magic. I mean, I call it a miracle. It's what they do every day. I'm, you know, just a general population person that takes this for granted until it happens to your family. And then you go, wow, they are something special. So that's what they are.

Jennifer Lincoln (27:44)

Like a lot of people. I've had really good health care experiences and I've had shit doctors. I worked in an emergency room for two years and saw up close what an insane place that is from an employee perspective. And I was not a doctor or a nurse having to be actually hands on with people. But I will always remember those doctors and nurses and secretaries and administrators, all the people along the way who have just decided to dedicate their lives in some capacity to helping other people and how valuable they are. And looking at it from the perspective of the work that we do on this podcast, when I hear these wellness influencers shit talk healthcare professionals the way they do, it angers me more than most other things or any aspects of the coverage that we do for very personal reasons. We do not have a sick care system, we have a health care system that's dictated by unfettered capitalism. And those are very different things. There are perverse incentives for sure, but within the structure and the foundation, woven into that system are millions of people who are doing the best that they can. And I'm sorry, so happy to be in a city where so many thousands of workers are standing up for their rights right now. We need to see more of it and we need to support them. I'm going to close with a clip that Dr. Lincoln posted over the weekend. The reality is these workers are not getting paid right now as they fight for their rights. And that's very challenging on a number of levels, especially considering the people that they're supposed to be negotiating with are making the sums of money that they are. I don't inherently hate people for making good money for what they do. I'm actually quite a fan of entrepreneurship and startups. I've worked for a number of them over the last decade of my life. I have my own company with the podcast, I have a non profit. There's an entrepreneurial spirit which I very much appreciate about America. But when you're taking something that in every other developed nation is provided for through taxation or other means for all citizens so that you don't find things like litigious patients constantly suing doctors, when you don't find things like medical bankruptcy so that people don't have to worry about their health care coverage, you can actually flourish as a society in ways that are not possible in America. And it sets up the exact wellness influencer, grifting dynamic that we see on a daily basis here, the reality is we are moving into completely uncharted territory in the new administration. And we know what the Heritage foundation and the techno monarchists want to create in our society and are already laying the foundation for. They have a lot to work with given how most citizens are when it comes to just wondering whether or not you should go to a doctor or a hospital to get care because you don't know if you can afford it. Right now. These 5,000 plus workers can't afford a lot of things. So I want to close with Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, who posted over the weekend some resources for these workers which includes crowdfunding. I will include some links in the show notes. If you are willing to and want to support these workers as we're going, as they're going through it, I fear we're going to see a lot more of this in the coming years. I fear it because we even have to do it. But at the same time we need to support unions and we need to support workers, especially those who are literally invested in our health.

Derek Barris (31:51)

Number one, first and foremost is the hardship fund. We have raised an amazing amount of money. We've actually had other partners donating tens of thousands of dollars as well. So we are able to support you. This is where you can donate it, but you can go to the Oregon Nurses association homepage to see how to access how to apply for it. The second thing I want you to know is that interest free loans from AFT are coming. You can reach out to this lovely fellow here who can answer your questions. But yes, in the beginning of February if we're still on the line, interest free loans. So free money that you can pay back so that you can hold the line for a contract that we deserve and our patients deserve. And third is a really cool one I just found out about called the Labors Community Service Agency. They are a group local here in Oregon and Southwest Washington and they are able to help things like rent assistance, food cards for people who have fallen on hard times, such as people who are striking. You can contact them through their website, you can get to it through Instagram. So there are options out there and we know that holding the line is not easy. I just want you to know that returning to work for Providence, who is showing us just what they think of us, isn't the only option in order to figure out how to make ends meet. Thank you all for everything you're doing.