Women & Infants, Union disagree if emergency services are changing to target men and children

Women & Infants Hospital Frontline Staff Hold Informational Picket to Demand a Voice in the Implementation of Care Changes to Treat Men and Children 

An update is provided at the end of this article

Earlier this week Women & Infants members of SEIUU 1199NE walked the picket line in front of Women & Infants Hospital in Providence. The issue, contested by the hospital, is that medical staff are being asked to “float” in the emergency room which has now expanded to treat men and children. Both claims are denied by the hospital, which is a Care New England facility.

In a statement from the union, the purpose of the picket was outlined:

“Amid the critical development that Women & Infants Hospital for the first time has begun providing medical treatment to men and children in addition to mothers and infants, frontline caregivers who are members of SEIU 1199NE held an informational picket today to demand management provide better training, staffing and a voice in how these changes are implemented.  

We are experiencing a domino effect in other areas of the hospital because of the new care model that has been adopted to treat men and children. I work in the Labor Room and we were told that we would now be needing to float to the emergency room because of its higher volume of patients and increasing turnover of nurses. Some nurses have been here for 30 years and have never treated anyone other than women and infants. We are simply asking management to provide us with the training, clear communication and support we need to be able to better meet the needs of this new patient population,” said Adriana Chartier, a Registered Nurse in the Labor Delivery Room. [Chartier also appeared on television interviews].

Over the last few months that Women & Infants Hospital has been implementing this momentous shift in patient care, the hospital has not created avenues for clear communication and ignored input from frontline staff for its rollout of these changes. Frontline staff want to discuss with the hospital the training necessary to meet the healthcare needs and treatment of men and children, which requires specialized care different from that traditionally provided to women and infants by the hospital. 

What’s more, staffing levels and expertise need to keep pace with the increasing volume of patients, particularly in the Emergency Department, who often have a higher acuity level and possess more complex medical needs than the hospital’s traditional patient base, including at times substance abuse and mental health challenges. 

Finally, frontline staff are concerned about the use of subcontracting in the Medical Coding department in violation of the collective bargaining agreement between the hospital and the union. Management has also refused to meet and address these violations of the collective bargaining agreement in violation of federal labor law. 

At its core, members want management to respect and value the contribution of their work along with listening to and valuing the input of workers in departments across the hospital, including Dietary, Environmental Services and the Central Processing Department. “We keep the hospital running by making sure patients have nutritious food, clean rooms and functioning equipment, but unfortunately our departments too often get overlooked. During the recent Worker Appreciation Week, we were tasked with making 700 clam cakes for the rest of the staff only to have management forget to recognize our department. When we raised it with them they got up and walked out on us during a meeting. This boils down to basic respect and recognition for the work we do to keep our patients well fed and happy,” said Patrick Jones, who has worked in the Dietary Department for 19 years.”

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ABC6 story:

RINewsToday reached out to Women & Infants to inquire about claims of changes in their ED and that they were now opening up to treat men and women. This followed an ABC6 television story on the action. Jessica McCarthy, spokesperson, said that this was “misinformation” and that ABC6 is taking down the report.

The report was not taken down – and a second appeared on the Tuesday SEIU union picket in front of the hospital. The Providence Journal also covered the story of the claims of the union.

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In a statement from Women & Infants, by Jessica McCarthy, Chief Marketing Officer and VP Marketing, PR, Communications, New England Health System:

“The information shared in the SEIU press release is incorrect. Women & Infants focuses on providing care to women and infants. Nothing has changed. The Women & Infants Emergency Department (ED) – like all emergency departments – is required by law (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)) to assess and stabilized anyone who comes to the ED, including men and children. This has always been the case.  

We are disappointed to see 1199 SEIU holding an informational picket. We believe the time would be much better spent having continued active and productive dialogue about topics important to our valued team members.”

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Current Women & Infants Ads promoting emergency department care, as posted on “X”:

While the creative does not specifically say “men and children” the union says not just women is what is implied.

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On Wednesday night, SEIU issued the following response to that of the hospital:

Statement from Pam Reid, Registered Nurse in Postpartum Unit and Union Delegate: “Women & Infants Hospital has always stabilized and diverted whoever walked through the door but now we are expected to provide treatment to new and different kinds of patients. We are concerned about the roll out of care changes to treat men and children in the Emergency Department and are frustrated that our voices are not being heard. As the billboards have gone up across the state, we know the volume of new patients will only increase and we are calling for a voice in this new care plan.”

Editor’s Note: we asked for clarification on what was meant by “new and different kinds of patients” and also about “billboards have gone up across the state”, but received no response.

Statement from Robyn Hamaker, Registered Nurse in Float Pool and Union Delegate: “Management is saying publicly our concerns for these changes are “factually incorrect.” Not only does this contradict the information shared with frontline staff related to the new demands on them from hospital management, it also seems to ignore the advertising campaign Women & Infants has been running for months. Instead of distributing such conflicting information, the hospital needs to focus on helping staff feel more comfortable with the changes.”

Statement from SEIU 1199 New England: “It is shocking to hear Women and Infants undermine and ignore the real-world experience of frontline staff who are calling for better staffing, training and support. This is yet another reason why healthcare workers need to organize themselves in unions to ensure they have a voice on behalf of themselves and their patients.” —

In addition, As for the hospital’s assertions that nothing has changed, I can offer on background that the hospital has been referencing the changes for months, upskilling members and that our members are now treating and stabilizing different kinds of patients than they have ever treated before.

UPDATE: In response to our question on data and statistics, the union spokesperson said “the union does not have access to the stats of who the hospital treats in the ED and even if they did, I am not sure they would be available yet since the changes are still so new. We can’t speak to why the hospital is denying that changes are underway, we can only offer the first-person testimony of frontline caregivers who are experiencing the changes internally. As I mentioned earlier, members have been upskilling for months, these changes have been referenced internally to the membership, the hospital is spending money on advertising and workers are expressing concern about the changes as they want to make sure they are equipped to treat patients different than the women and infants they have been treating for years.”

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Questions unanswered on social media:

On the Women & Infants Facebook page, several people asked questions, like the one, below, regarding promotion of emergency department services:

Response is repeated whenever questions are asked on the FB page:

The union picketed in March of 2023 saying the hospital “is not what it used to be” and they had no confidence in the Care New England management.

Women & Infants delivers 82% of the babies born in Rhode Island – over 9,000 births

This is a developing story.