ANTIGO, WI (WSAU-WXPR) – Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses at Aspirus Langlade Hospital are asking for more pay.
Many businesses across the Northwoods are short staffed. But at health care facilities, this issue is exacerbated when waves of COVID-19 infections send people to seek care.
The nurses hope that higher wages will recruit more full-time staff members.
Danielle Majewski is a registered nurse who works in the birthing center at Aspirus Langlade Hospital. She says her unit has been short-staffed for more than a year, and has lost an additional three full-time staff members in the past two months. “They left because they didn’t feel they were being heard, that they were being appreciated and being paid fairly. And you can’t put a price tag on somebody’s life.”
At this point, Majewski says the hospital is so short-staffed that it’s difficult to give every patient the care she feels they deserve. “It’s such a helpless feeling when you cannot give 100 percent to your patients when that’s the oath that you took.”
The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals is trying to negotiate with Aspirus for better pay.
In a statement, Aspirus said it values the contributions of its team members and will continue to negotiate until both sides reach a “mutually agreeable arrangement.”
