Deaconess, Valley may see layoffs

Empire Health Services may lay off several dozen registered nurses and technicians at its two hospitals.

Details are vague, but evolving cost-control efforts have newly unionized nurses and technicians worried that 30 to 40 full-time positions could be lost, said Carter Wright, a spokesman for the Service Employees Union International 1199NW representing the employees.

Some layoff notices may be issued as soon as Friday, Wright said, adding that the rumors are running full throttle.

The union is working with management on the layoffs – basically urging the hospital to consider seniority in keeping with common union contract language.

Hospital spokeswoman Janice Marich said management is seeking volunteers to lessen the number of layoffs.

The layoffs add a new dimension to the troubles at Deaconess.

In early 2003, the hospital cut the wages of every employee by 9 percent. Only a few specialized employees were spared the cutbacks that affected everyone else from the chief executive to nurses and janitors. The wage rollback, however, spared job cuts.

The hospital reinstated some of the wages, but didn’t hire to fill many jobs that were left vacant as employees quit or retired.

Mary Parkins, a Deaconess RN working in the post-surgical unit, said the employees are pushing for a decent severance package for employees who may be laid off.

The nurses voted to organize in June, and are still working on their first union contract with the hospital.

“We want to make this as fair as we can,” she said. A nurse for 33 years at the hospital, Parkins said the staff remain committed to their jobs.

“We’ll continue to do everything we can to keep the level of care high,” she said. “You have to have faith that we can work through this.”

Although the hospital had made strides, the progress was stunted by the worsening health insurance situation in Spokane.

Bad debts and charity care write-offs doubled during the first three months of the year in cash-strapped Spokane, Empire CEO Garman Lutz has said.

Coupled with fewer paying patients seeking medical care at the hospital, the problems at Deaconess and Valley have deepened.

The two hospitals lost $7.2 million from October through March. The losses prompted the hiring of PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP as a consultant to make and save more money.