At least six different Providence medical centers will be short-staffed for the next few days, as around 3,000 nurses in total go on strike for the remainder of the week. The strike will last at least three days after contract negotiations ended up being unsuccessful. Negotiations have been going on for months to solve issues on understaffing and “uncompetitive pay and benefits.” Providence has already implemented plans to bring in temporary workers to maintain hospital workflows and complete daily nursing tasks while the strike is happening. This will allow patients to still receive care for those who are already in a bed and for those who will visit the hospital in the next few days.

The Chief Nursing Officer for Providence has been the primary speaker on behalf of the organization.

The CNO, Jennifer Gentry, has spoken to the press and released statements regarding the strike. In all that she has said, one thing she has not discussed is the number of temporary nurse replacements hired by the medical organization. Rather than give a number so that people are aware of the amount of coverage, she stated that Providence has been “able to secure the number.” This vagueness has felt very ominous to some, leaving people to wonder what route the are taking in these negotiations. She did also assure that patient’s would not lose access to care if coming in during the strike. If anything were to happen to limit the hospital’s intake, patients would be notified.

If everything works, the strike will end Friday morning, having started Tuesday morning.

Currently, the six medical centers that will be impacted by the strikes are Providence St. Vincent near Beaverton, Providence Newberg, Providence Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Providence Medford, Providence Hood River, and Providence Milwaukie. The current contracts for nurses have expired at all of these locations and no agreements were reached when in contract negotiations. Negotiations began last fall, not long after nurses at other Providence locations were striking for similar reasons. The Providence strike last year was only around 1,3000 nurses at the Providence Medical Center in Portland. This strike ended up lasting five days, so it will be interesting to see how long this strike goes.