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Updates on August COVID-19 Outbreak for CHI Harrison / St Michael Members

Gaelan Kelly

UFCW 21 has been tracking the COVID-19 outbreak at CHI Harrison/St Michael very closely. The hospital says they learned of the first case and notified Kitsap County Health Department on August 4. The outbreak was not made public until August 21.

This week we had an emergency online meeting with hospital workers to discuss the outbreak, our demands from CHI, and our next steps. We talked in the meeting about a way for workers to report our experiences before and during this outbreak, and there was a lot of interest in a meeting with state officials to report issues directly to relevant agencies.

LISTENING SESSION WITH STATE HEALTH & LABOR OFFICIALS & GOVERNORS OFFICE

MONDAY AUGUST 31

7:30 PM

ONLINE MEETING

We immediately scheduled a listening session meeting with top officials at all relevant state agencies. This is an online meeting over Zoom and all Harrison/St Michael workers are invited. We will be joined by officials from:

  • WA State Dept. of Health

  • Kitsap County Public Health

  • Labor & Industries

  • Office of the Governor

You will have a chance in this meeting to ask questions, report safety concerns, and let them know what is really happening on the ground. These agencies want to hear from you about your experiences and what you need. Please register as soon as possible, and share this important opportunity with your coworkers.

We also created a COVID outbreak safety survey and reporting tool. Members said they would appreciate a place to share experience with testing, exposure, notification, safety protocols, PPE, and other issues surrounding this outbreak. That survey is here:

We encourage all Harrison/St Michael workers to spend 5 - 10 minutes this week to go through these questions and help us track as much information as possible about this outbreak and your safety. There is an option to upload pictures or documents in that survey as well, and a place you can request support if you are in quarantine and would like to be connected to any union or community support. Other members and our community across Kitsap is reaching out to ask how they can help support you at this time.

NOTES FROM OUR EMERGENCY MEETING

Our current demands for CHI:

  • Rapid testing for all workers

  • Complying with our existing agreement for 8-hour notification of any exposure

  • Paid administrative leave during the full length of any quarantine and while waiting for test results

  • Adequate PPE for all workers

  • Maintaining safe staffing levels even during this outbreak

  • Hazard pay

Existing right to paid leave: The first piece of our existing agreement with CHI says:

“A nurse or healthcare worker who the Employer does not permit to work due to exposure to Covid-19 disease while at work shall be placed in paid leave status during any required quarantine period. Paid leave status may be a combination of L&I Workers Compensation and employer paid administrative leave. The combination of which will ensure the employee will experience no loss of pay or accrued time off until such time as the Employer permits the employee to return to work. An employer representative will be available to assist employee with coordination of federal, state and employer benefits as may be applicable.”

The state has ruled that there is an automatic presumption that if a health care worker acquires COVID, it was acquired at work and you are eligible for workers comp. If you have any questions or issues with paid leave during this time, please contact your Union Rep as soon as possible.

Community support: Fellow UFCW 21 members and the larger Kitsap community are springing into action and asking what they can do to help, especially for workers who are in quarantine. We will be organizing whatever support workers need, be it meals, wellness checks, financial support, or anything else, and encourage all Harrison/St Michael workers to contact your Union Rep for whatever you or coworkers need so we can connect you with your community support.

​Union actions: We are planning for public actions that are safe but can put pressure on Harrison/St Michael management to meet our demands, keep workers and patients safe, and prevent the next outbreak crisis. We will be updating everyone as these plans solidify, but if you are interested in participating or have ideas for safe actions that make a point, please connect with your Shop Steward or Union Rep.

Ongoing safety issues: We received many helpful and specific reports of safety issues and workplace concerns during the emergency meeting. We will be addressing these individually and collectively in the coming days. Examples of issues discussed include: the safety of floating right now; worries about the upcoming flu season; inadequate PPE supplies, training, and fit-testing; short staffing in many departments including EVS; nurses being asked to clean COVID rooms; special issues facing procedural care staff, cath lab, and high-risk workers; problems with testing and notification; concern around new CDC guidelines; and much more.

As always, we encourage you to report safety concerns to your Union Rep, or to use our COVID safety report email:

safetyreport@ufcw21.org

PRESS COVERAGE OF HARRISON/ST MICHAEL WORKERS SPEAKING OUT

On Tuesday August 25, we held a press conference responding to CHI’s public statements that they are handling this outbreak as well as possible, that they notified everyone involved in a timely way, and that their PPE supplies now and throughout the COVID pandemic have been totally adequate.

You can watch the full press conference at this link

And find some of the press coverage below: