The nurses are looking for a competitive contract in the hope of attracting more nurses to Alma hospital to ease labor shortages and improve conditions.
A 10 day notice will be sent to the hospital prior to the strike.
Nurses at McLaren Central Hospital in Mount Pleasant are voting on Thursday to allow the strike.
MyMichigan nurses join more than 1,000 nursing home workers represented by the Healthcare Michigan International Federation of Service Employees who are voting.
Those nurses who work at 13 nursing homes across Michigan owned by Ciena Healthcare, The Orchards Michigan, Optalis Healthcare, Pioneer Health Care Management and Amee Patel, Kevin Lignell, communications coordinator for SEIU Healthcare Michigan, have told Crain’s in an email earlier this week.
Lignell writes that workers are demanding “a living wage, affordable health care and safe staff in their nursing homes.”
Download Modern Healthcare’s app to stay informed when there’s breaking industry news.
The sudden loss of 1,000 nurses could throw the entire healthcare sector into chaos, said Melissa Samuel, president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Healthcare Association. Nursing homes will likely have to reduce patient capacity and rely on expensive agency staff to maintain the prescribed patient-to-provider ratio.
HACAM is the trade association representing Michigan’s long-term care providers.
Nursing homes have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic — first the spread of the coronavirus and then the loss of workers. The industry has lost about 210,000 workers nationally and about 10,000 in Michigan.
“We have the right staff to take charge of the buildings, but the ability to take in more patients and ease congestion in the hospital system is not,” said Samuel. “We’re going to have to work together and identify initiatives to pull people back into the industry. Not a single nursing home isn’t trying to recruit right now. It’s a healthcare crisis. .”
HCAM is calling on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to distribute $67 million for long-term care maintenance, hiring, and training in last year’s supplemental spending bill signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in October. 2 years ago.
Samuel said the grant, which is designed to be awarded through grants, has yet to be distributed. Grant applications were due last August.
The Nursing Home Association is also asking the state for an additional $2.35 per hour for direct care workers during the pandemic and continues today, which will be extended to all including workers in Michigan’s nursing homes.
HCAM is also calling for the state to increase its Medicaid reimbursement rate, which has increased 5% since 2019, but is inconsistent with costs that have increased by more than 15% due to inflation and wage increases, Samuel said.
This story first appeared in Crain’s Detroit Business.
