Letter: Baystate Noble Nurses Seek Public Support for Fair Contract

My name is Lauren Reingold and I am a nurse at Baystate Noble Hospital. I am writing to bring your attention to how the hospital administration is mistreating nurses as we bargain our next contract. While we will always provide excellent care for our patients, it becomes harder and harder as cost cutting measures limit resources, including staff. I am a relatively new nurse, but I work alongside many who have served the Westfield community for more than 15 years. All of us are feeling the strain of having more and more asked of us with Baystate offering less and less in return. It’s an exceptional privilege to do this work. I love getting to help care for people and their families when they need it most, but it’s also incredibly difficult even under the best of circumstances. Now with the state of the healthcare system after COVID, it sometimes feels untenable. By refusing to offer a raise even remotely at pace with inflation or competitive with other area hospitals, the hospital administration is failing to provide safe staffing levels because we cannot adequately recruit or retain nurses. This is shameful. I hope you will reach out and let Baystate know you support our efforts to negotiate a fair contract and keep our patients safe. Please join us for an informational picket at Baystate Noble on August 6th, from 2pm to 4pm. Your support helps us care for you!

Lauren Reingold

Lauren Reingold is a resident of Amherst and a nurse at Baystate Noble Hospital