Nurses at two Wichita hospitals plan to go on a one-day strike July 6 to protest what it calls the administration’s refusal to address concerns they say they’ve raised about patient safety and workplace violence.
Nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph and St. Francis hospitals are part of the National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United labor union. They are responding to two recent incidents at St. Joseph — a suicide by gun outside the emergency department on Sunday and shooting threats on Wednesday that placed the hospital on lockdown — along with earlier incidents they say should have prompted action sooner.
Ascension Via Christi leaders told staff at both hospitals on Wednesday afternoon — after nurses had voted to authorize a strike — that they plan to install weapon-detection devices and bolster security at emergency department entrances in August. The union announcement does not acknowledge that memo, and the union did not respond to questions from The Eagle on Wednesday and Thursday…