South Florida Caregivers at Tenet-Owned Hospitals Seeing Results When It Comes to Quality Work Environment and Quality Patient Care

October 2, 2015

Following months of hard work to secure new contracts and address patient care and work-related issues at seven Tenet-owned hospitals in South Florida, 1199SEIU Florida caregivers are already seeing benefits for their patients and work environment.

1199SEIU members at each facility have either set up or are in the process of setting up labor-management committees at each hospital to address issues and develop solutions with management.

“I’m looking forward to utilizing the committee process more because it’s very important to be organized internally to address issues,” said Miriam Dawson, RN. “That way, in the future, we can take our goals to the next level. We want Palm Beach Gardens to be a successful hospital so that we, as employees, are successful too.”

At Florida Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, behavioral health technicians had serious health and safety concerns about the training necessary to perform their job duties. The techs brought the issue to management’s attention and it was resolved.

At Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, nurses in the critical care unit worked with management to secure additional staff and training to make patient care even better in their department. The nurses identified the issue, developed a plan, and convinced management to hire nine new nurses with an additional eight nurses on the way to better address patients’ needs.

At North Shore Medical Center in Miami, telemetry technicians raised issues about staffing in their department and are being given the opportunity to address the issue at the next patient care committee meeting with management.

All across South Florida, caregivers at Tenet-owned hospitals are working together to develop positive solutions for the issues that impact patient care and their work environment.

In March 2015, caregivers secured new contracts at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach and North Shore Medical Center. In September, caregivers settled contracts at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah, West Boca Medical Center, Florida Medical Center and Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.

The contracts include across-the-board wage increases competitive with industry standards, preserve quality health insurance benefits, and provide employees with a labor-management committee process to resolve issues at the hospital.