Healthcare workers host an informational picket outside of Women and Infants Hospital

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Staff at another hospital in Rhode Island picketed earlier today due to staffing shortages ahead of the holiday season.

They aren’t asking for better pay or better benefits like many of the pickets across the state.

Caregivers at the Women and Infants Hospital said they’re facing staffing shortages and a lack of clear communication from management with the New Year around the corner.

“Well, we’ve already looked ahead at our scheduling, and we don’t have enough staff to cover the needs of our patients,” R.N. and Union Delegate Kelly Price said. “And it’s scary. We’re asking them to post the needs. Give incentives to bring staff to come into work. We can’t do it without our staff. And do whatever you need to do to get that staff in, and they’re just not willing to work with us on that.”

Price has been working in the hospital for nearly three decades.

She said in the past few months, they’ve seen the patient-to-staff ratio change drastically.

“We used to staff one nurse to six patients, that means one nurse to three mother-infant couples,” picketer Nancy Chandley Adams said. “That’s A1 standard, the professional organization. Over the past year, we began to staff  4-to-1, four to one nurse. That means she has eight patients.”

Union caregivers said they’ve been trying to speak with management for the past few months but don’t feel like they’re being heard.

And say their work is suffering because of it.

“We used to be a renowned hospital, we were the hospital that everybody came to have their baby, and we were the best hospital in the area,” Price said. “The place that people came to work – it was hard to get in – you had to know somebody to get into this hospital, and then you came here, and you stayed forever. It’s not like that anymore…it’s nothing like that anymore.”

ABC 6 News reached out to Care New England, the organization that operates the hospital for any comment.

According to their spokesperson, all services remained available during Friday’s picket.

They sent a statement that reads in part:

“We are disappointed that 1199SEIU has decided to use valuable time leafleting when we have been, and are currently, engaged in discussions together to create the best staffing plans for the holiday season and enhance our process for a patient care council.”

Staff said an informational picket is not a strike.