Between the intermittent honking from passing cars and the blasting of music from loudspeakers, the picket lines of the nurses on strike from PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services nurses were lively on Monday.
About 30 home care and hospice nurses and supporters were spread out at the entrances to the PeaceHealth offices in Springfield. The strike, which started Saturday, is scheduled to last until 7 a.m. on Feb. 24.
“I really care about my community. I care about them being able to receive good care,” said Heather Herbert, an ONA member and hospice nurse who was among those picketing on Monday. “We would not be striking if we felt that there was any other way to get what our community deserves.”
About 90 nurses at Sacred Heart Home Care Services are members of the Oregon Nurses Association union.
Home care nurses have a separate contract from in-hospital nurses. These nurses do home visits, serving some of the most vulnerable patients in Lane County, many of whom are in the final days, weeks or months of their lives, in the comfort of their own homes. Between the 90 nurses, they treat more than 500 patients in a service area that covers a 60-mile radius.