CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nurses have been picketing St. Francis Medical Center since last week Monday.
Nurses and hospitals With strikes by almost 1,400 nurses at three of Oahu's five largest hospitals now in their second week, neither the union or the hospitals appear ready to return to the bargaining table.
not talking
With 1,400 nurses on strike at three
Oahu hospitals, neither side
shows signs of budgingBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com"It's real quiet" said Hawaii Nurses Association spokesman Scott Foster.
"No meetings have been scheduled," said Kuakini Medical Center spokeswoman, Donda Spiker.
Spiker said Kuakini's patient census is slightly lower than a week ago but the hospital continues with a full range of services.
"We started off with over 80 patients one week ago. It's dropped a bit since then but not significantly. During the holidays we don't normally get a lot of patients," she said.
St. Francis Medical Center is in the process of bringing in 12 nurses from the mainland to help with renal and critical care patients, said hospital spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett.
One nurse has already arrived and is working, but the rest are coming from either the Midwest or East Coast and should be here later this week, she said.
St. Francis met with the union on Saturday to request that the union release some nurses to work in critical areas, but a final agreement has yet to be worked out, Jarrett said.
St. Francis Chief of Staff Jared Sugihara had expressed concern that the health of some patients, especially those on renal dialysis, could be jeopardized due to staffing-related cutbacks in dialysis treatments.
Queen's Medical Center spokeswoman Lynn Kenton also said no new talks with HNA have been scheduled. Queen's earlier brought in about 250 replacement nurses to maintain services.
St. Francis Healthcare System
Queen's Medical Center
Kuakini Health System
