‘We’re exhausted’: Everett nurses warn of critical staffing shortages at Providence

Patients are feeling the strain from major staffing issues at Everett’s Providence Medical Center.

Nurses telling KIRO 7 their staff is being stretched too thin – and it’s taking a toll on their level of care. We spoke with members of the union who say they are planning to strike if the hospital doesn’t meet their demands.

The union says bargaining has been both promising and frustrating, with nurses we spoke to warning that the nurse to patient ratio has reached unsafe levels.

Nurses I talked to say with the current nurse to patio ratio it’s unsafe, and that they feel they’re being overworked and underpaid.

“We’re running around constantly, not taking breaks and we’re just exhausted,” Providence nurse Britnae Kokesh said. “The ratios right now in the ER are supposed to be 1 to 4, typically they are 1 to 4 but right now we are boarding a lot of patients in the ER.”

This means patients are admitted but have to wait to get a bed and see a doctor, often having to wait for hours, even days. That also has floors of the hospital shut down due to a lack of staffing.

The union representing nurses says 600 have left or retired since 2021.

As the union negotiates a new contract with the hospital, nurses say they plan to strike if their demands are not met.

“It’s really hard when we can’t take care of the people that we are caring for we are begging for help, we want to care for these people,” Providence nurse Emily Bodnar said.

Next week there are two negotiation sessions. The union hopes they can come to an agreement before the contract ends on Oct. 30.