Hospitals The Hawaii Nurses Association moved one step closer to a walkout yesterday by delivering 10-day strike notices to Queen's, Kapiolani, Kuakini and St. Francis hospitals.
prep for strike
They are lining up nurses
who can be flown in to cover
during a walkoutBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comKaiser Foundation Hospital received its strike notice Wednesday.
A strike could begin Dec. 2, the union said, though it continues to bargain will all the hospitals.
How easy it will be for the five hospitals to find adequate numbers of replacement nurses should a strike occur remains to be seen.
With a shortage of nurses already in Hawaii, local hospitals rely on traveling nurses from the mainland and overseas to supplement their regular registered nurse work force. Those traveling nurses currently on contract with the hospitals are also members of the union, and would likely join a strike.
Queen's Medical Center has said it has signed with a mainland health care staffing service to guarantee the availability of registered nurses as of Dec. 2. Queen's said it has worked with the company, San Francisco-based Healthcare Consulting and Staffing Services, when the possibility of a strike loomed in previous years.
"It's very common for us to go through this agency when there is a negotiation to ensure we are prepared for a possible strike," said Queen's spokeswoman Lynn Kenton.
Likewise, Kapiolani Medical Center will also use the services of Healthcare Consulting and Staffing Services, said Kapiolani Chief Executive Officer Larry O'Brien. So far, the hospital has confirmed the services of 101 traveling nurses now employed in mainland medical centers.
But for Kapiolani, the challenge will be to find nurses experienced in the kind of specialized care it delivers, such as complex neo-natal and pediatric cases.
The staffing agency has focused its search for nurses in hospitals that deliver the same kind of services, O'Brien said.
"Because it's highly specialized care, we do have a plan to maintain full services. We obviously have to maintain that. We have an awful lot of sick kids who can't go anywhere else and have to be cared for continuously," O'Brien said.
Kaiser, which plans to cancel any elective surgeries or procedures, will use the services of the same staffing agency, and has already requested 200 nurses should the need arise, company spokeswoman Jan Kagehiro said.
For both Kuakini Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center, contingency plans are also underway, say both hospitals. At this stage, St. Francis has no plans to hire mainland nurses, said spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett.
"We'll keep evaluating the situation as far as the number of patients and the staffing needed," she said.
St. Francis West Medical Center, the Liliha-based hospital's sister facility in Ewa, would not be affected by a potential strike, Jarrett said. Likewise, Kapiolani's sister facilities, Straub Clinic & Hospital, Pali Momi and Kauai-based Wilcox hospitals -- part of the Hawaii Pacific Health system -- are not included in the current negotiations.
At Kuakini Hospital, spokeswoman Donda Spiker said the facility had also been preparing for a possible strike for several weeks. So far there are no plans to cancel any services or elective procedures, Spiker said.
Hawaii Nurses Association