[Antiracism] [Workers Rights] Patients Before Profits!

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

Mass. Nurses Assn. urgently requests our immediate support to keep
Greenfield-based Visiting Nurses & Hospice services going.  See below.  
 
Please note that Baystate Health announced its layoffs/shutdown on the same
day that it had contract negotiations with the Greenfield VNA/Hospice
nurses, an MNA bargaining unit.  The nurses had thought they were close to a
tentative agreement after three years of negotiations, dragged out by
Baystate's anti-union animus.  
 
And the notice came just a week after hundreds of MNA nurses, other union
members, and community activists showed their support for the Baystate
VNA/Hospice nurses by leafleting MassMutual in Springfield (where two
members of the Board of Trustees of Baystate Medical Center are employed).  
 
Union-busting and service-cutting go hand-in-hand.  However, as a so-called
"non-profit," this corporation is financially underwritten by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  That's our money in their coffers.  Please
tell your elected officials (below) you want it spent on providing services
without union-busting, starting with keeping Baystate VNA & Hospice open in
Greenfield. 
 
For more information on reigning in so-called non-profit corporations,
please contact WMass Jobs with Justice: (413) 827-0301; HYPERLINK
"mailto:wmjwj at wmjwj.org"wmjwj at wmjwj.org. 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Scherrer HYPERLINK
"mailto:dscherrer at mnarn.org"dscherrer at mnarn.org 

Please share widely!
 
  
HYPERLINK "http://www.massnurses.org/"	



HYPERLINK
"http://capwiz.com/massnurses/utr/0/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.capwiz.com%2Fmassnur
ses"Support your Community Nurses! 


Baystate Health management recently announced that they are closing the
Greenfield Office of the Baystate Visiting Nurse and Hospice (VNAH). They
also announced that there would be lay-offs at the VNA office in Springfield
and at the Baystate Franklin Medical Center. 

According to Baystate Health officials, they are closing the VNAH in
Greenfield and reducing staff at the main office in Springfield due to
rising costs and deficits caused by cuts in Medicare reimbursement for home
care. But Baystate is posting a record surplus for the current fiscal year!
Baystate Health Systems total profits for the second quarter were $35.1
million, compared to $21.7 million for the same period in 2006. This
constitutes a roughly 60% increase!

The VNAH in Greenfield employs 55 people and provides home care to about 150
patients, and the hospice program serves between 18 to 23 patients on a
daily basis. Given how well Baystate is doing financially, how can they be
cutting these important services to sick and dying people in Greenfield? 

Is this the Baystate Health System that cares about the community and their
employees, or is this a company who clearly puts profits before patients? 

Baystate's greed is hurting our community! 

Call your legislators and urge them to call Trish Hannon (Senior Vice
President for Health Care Operations) at 413-794-5516 and Mark Tolosky (CEO
of Baystate) through his Executive Assistant at 413-794-5890. 

Keep Baystate VNA & Hospice in Greenfield open! 


LEGISLATORS TO CONTACT

Senator Edward Kennedy
2400 John F. Kennedy Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203
617-565-3170

Senator John Kerry
Springfield Federal Building
1550 Main Street 
Suite 304
Springfield, MA 01101
(413) 785-4610 

If you live in Franklin or Hampshire County, CALL:
Congressman John Olver
57 Suffolk Street Suite 310 
Holyoke, MA 01040
TEL: 413-532-7010

If you live in Hampden County, CALL:
Congressman Richard Neal
The Federal Building
1550 Main Street, Suite 309
Springfield, MA 01103
413-785-0325

If you live in Northampton, Amherst, Belchertown, Hadley, Hatfield, Pelham
and South Hadley, in the county of Hampshire; and Bernardston, Buckland,
Colrain, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Leverett, Leyden, Montague,
New Salem, Northfield, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Wendell and
Whately, in the county of Franklin, CALL:
Senator Stanley Rosenberg
1 Prince Street
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-1649

If you live in the towns of Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Orange and Warwick,
all in the county of Franklin; and the town of Athol, in the county of
Worcester, CALL: 
Representative Christopher J. Donelan
186 Walnut Hill Rd
Orange, MA 01364
978-544-2180

If you live in the towns of Easthampton, Hadley and South Hadley, all in the
county of Hampshire, CALL:
Representative John Scibak
P.O. Box 136
South Hadley, MA
413-539-5855

If you live in the towns of Amherst and Granby, both in the county of
Hampshire, CALL:
Representative Ellen Story
State House Room 167
Boston, MA 02133
617-722-2575

If you live in the towns of Conway, Deerfield, Leverett, Montague, New
Salem, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Wendell and Whately, all in the county of
Franklin; and precincts A and D, of the town of Belchertown, and the towns
of Chesterfield, Goshen, Huntington, Pelham, Williamsburg and Worthington,
all in the county of Hampshire, CALL: 
Representative Stephen Kulik
1 Sugarloaf Street
South Deerfield, MA 01373
413-665-7200

If you live in the towns of Hatfield, Southampton and Westhampton, and the
city of Northampton, all in the county of Hampshire, CALL:
Representative Peter Kocot
State House Room 473F
Boston, MA 02133
617-722-2210

 

 

 
Diane Scherrer, RN 

Western MA Community Organizer, Division of Legislation

Massachusetts Nurses Association 

CELL: 781-363-3817


"Without good and careful nursing many must suffer greatly, and probably
perish, that might have been restored to health and comfort, and become
useful to themselves, their families, and the public, for many years after."
~Benjamin Franklin (1751)

 


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