Around 80 nurses working at Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital secured a win after voting to ratify a three-year contract.
Voting wrapped up around 9 p.m. Thursday, following months of negotiations, according to a statement from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.
“Brooke Glen nurses’ mission is to care for some of society’s most vulnerable – those who suffer from trauma, mental health issues, and addiction,” PASNAP President Maureen May said in a statement.
Dozens of nurses took part in an informational picket and rallying session back in March outside the Fort Washington-based mental health facility. Working under a month-long expired contract, they advocated for protections to protect nurses and prevent workplace violence, nurse recruitment and retention and “safe staffing” protocols.
“Nurses deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. They deserve to be able to walk into their workplace knowing that they are valued because we value them in our communities,” state Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th Dist., who is also a registered nurse, said during the March 13 event.
Owned by Universal Health Services Inc., the King of Prussia-based company operates more than 400 facilities in North America, Europe and Africa.
The 146-bed facility in Montgomery County treats patients with several conditions, including anxiety, mood disorders, psychosis, “situational crises,” as well as other issues related to impulse control and trauma, according to the hospital’s website.
Terms stipulated more “meaningful commitments to staffing,” according to the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, as personnel-related items address wage increases and strategic staffing, allowing for “higher population units and a float [nurse] for night shift.”
The statement issued by the nurses union highlighted agreements for United Healthcare Inc. to “meet with the nurses to address ongoing issues in the hospital” as well as conduct an “ongoing review of the “orientation process, nursing practices and health and safety concerns will work to improve the patient outcomes and retention for the Union nurses on the front line of the mental health crisis in our community.”
“This contract, with its emphasis on measures to improve retention of skilled nurses, acknowledges the importance of mental health care and the absolutely vital contributions of those who provide it,” May said in a statement.
