FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Friday, March 23

News from the Michigan Nurses Association
Contact: Sara Wallenfang, 517-974-4966

New Radio Ad Calls on Duke University to Address RN Staffing at an Affiliated Hospital
Duke LifePoint in Marquette, Michigan must do more to protect patients 
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(MARQUETTE, MI) On Friday, March 23, the Michigan Nurses Association will begin a radio ad campaign to highlight Duke University’s responsibility for conditions at a hospital in the Upper Peninsula. Since Duke partnered with the for-profit health care system LifePoint to purchase Marquette General Hospital, nurses have been scheduled to work dangerously long shifts without enough staffing to keep patients safe.
 
The ads are will begin during the March Madness college basketball tournament.
 
“The real ‘madness’ is the sixteen hour shifts that Marquette nurses are routinely expected to work,” said Scott Balko, Operating Room RN and President of the UPHS Marquette RN Staff Council/MNA. “We are running ads, both in Marquette and in North Carolina, because the people affiliated with Duke University should be aware that their good name is being tarnished by unsafe RN staffing practices in Michigan. Understaffing puts patients in danger.”
 
The radio ads and scripts are available here: tinyurl.com/DukeRNStaffing
 
Marquette nurses have been in contract negotiations with Duke LifePoint since April of 2017 and have been working without a contract since July 28.
 
“We call on Duke University and their partners at LifePoint to negotiate a fair contract that guarantees safe nurse staffing to protect our community,” said Balko.  
 
The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) is the largest, most effective union for registered nurses in Michigan, advocating for nurses and their patients at the State Capitol, in the community, and at the bargaining table.

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