Virginia Mason nurses picket in Seattle

Nurses at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle are taking to the streets this morning, claiming understaffing is putting patients and staff at severe risk. Now, it is the second protest at a hospital owned by Common Spirit in our area this week. Sam Campbell is live outside of the hospital with what the union is demanding. Sam, what's going on? Well, Erin, I'm outside the main hospital entrance at Terry and Seneca and as you can probably see and hear behind me, it is ground zero for today's protest. I'm also joined by Hannah Collins-Lewis. Hannah, you are a nurse here. Which department do you work in? I work in the progressive care department and that's basically like an ICU step down floor. I've seen from the union, the union claiming that understaffing is leading to risks for both patients and staff. Can you give me some examples of those risks that you've seen firsthand? Studies show when we have less staffing than is appropriate, it is a significant risk to both patients and nursing staff. When we don't have the people that we need, patients aren't getting their call lights answered in an appropriate amount of time. It's impacting our ability to give safe quality care. And just in the last two weeks alone on my department, we've actually had five nursing injuries related to transportation and trying to mobilize patients that really require us fully dependently to provide getting them out of bed. And including myself, I actually hurt my back last week. Trying to move a patient, so really the problem is that we don't have enough nursing and we don't have enough support services to be able to do our job safely and provide the quality care that we've historically been able to maintain in the Northwest. Thank you so much for joining us, Hannah. I'm afraid we're running out of time, but we do also have a statement that I want to bring up on screen from Virginia Mason Medical Center. And in response, the hospital says that the hospital is actively negotiating with the union to reach a fair contract. The hospital says it respects the nurse's right to picket, but emphasizes that it remains open today for uninterrupted quality care, saying that they hope to reach an agreement soon. Now, staff at Common Spirit-owned hospitals have been picketing. around the region and even in California for months, the common complaint being staffing levels. Now, the nurses contract I've just learned expired last night, but they are planning to be at the bargaining table into November. So while there is no imminent threat of a strike, tensions are mounting as these nurses try to make their voices heard outside the walls of the hospital. Live in Seattle, Sam Campbell, Fox 13 News.