An entrance at St. Charles Bend, one of four hospitals in Central Oregon operated by St. Charles Health System.

St. Charles Health System nurses are asking for a 65% pay raise in part due to skyrocketing housing prices that they say are preventing the hospital system from filling dozens of vacancies.

But during a recent round of contract negotiations, a St. Charles economist told nurses that there are other ways besides a wage hike that they can afford to live in Bend. They could get married. They could get a roommate. They could commute from a neighboring community.

This dialog was spotlighted recently by a TikTok influencer who used her 472,000 followers to communicate the negotiation posturing between St. Charles Health System and the Oregon Nursing Association, which represents about 900 nurses in Central Oregon. The TikTok video highlights issues the nursing profession faces in the wake of a national nursing shortage.

The nurses’ contract with St. Charles expired in December and negotiating teams from both sides have met six times. On Feb. 14, an economist hired by the hospital system said raises are not linked to fluctuations in housing prices, but by other factors like job tasks, credentials, experience, benefits, training and working conditions.

Erin Harrington, a intensive care nurse at St. Charles Bend, said nurses were offended by the economist’s suggestions of ways nurses can cut their housing costs.

“We feel disrespected,” Harrington said in an interview. “We’re concerned that the largest employer in Central Oregon wants us to work here, but doesn’t expect its employees to live here, except if we partner with someone, then we can afford to work here.

“And we need to work overtime to afford to live in Bend.”

St. Charles has faced a challenging three years. First, there were two years of pandemic related issues where the hospital geared up for health care needs to accommodate COVID-19. In the past year, the hospital system has sustained financial losses that were caused, in part, by relying on higher-paid traveling nurses.

St. Charles Bend has hired 32 nurses so far this year and has 119 registered nurse positions posted for recruitment who will become members of the Bend nurses bargaining unit.

“Reliance on expensive travel labor is not sustainable,” said Julie Ostrom, St. Charles Health System service line administrator and member of the bargaining team. “Retaining and recruiting permanent nurses is one of our top priorities and we’re seeing improvements in those efforts.

“We are committed to bargaining in good faith and are looking forward to reaching a full contract agreement.”

The hospital has about 100 registered traveling nurses {span style=”background-color: #deffde;”} {/span}on contract at St. Charles Bend at the moment, Ostrom said in an email. That’s down from 151 that were on staff early last year.

The Central Oregon health system is not alone in the trying to recruit nurses. The American Journal of Medical Quality predicts that the shortage of registered nurses will be nationwide by 2030 with the most severe shortage facing the Western states.

During one bargaining session, the nurses were asking for a 65% pay increase and the health system was offering up to a 20% increase in wages for the St. Charles Bend nurses over the life of the contract, Ostrom said.

As part of the wage proposal the health system offered a $5 hourly wage increase that would go into effect Sunday. With that increase, full-time nurses represented by the union would earn an average of $58 an hour base salary, Ostrom said.

In a presentation comparing wages of Oregon hospitals, St. Charles Bend was shown to be toward the middle of the wage spectrum. Nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland were the highest paid in the state and nurses at the St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City were the lowest paid, according to the hospital’s economist’s presentation.

Harrington said that low pay and a high cost of housing in Central Oregon is what’s keeping the hospital from filling vacant positions.

“St. Charles’s history of below-market pay keeps it from fully staffing its hospitals and shortchanges our community and its caregivers,” said Kevin Mealy, Oregon Nurses Association communication manager. “Even when nurses want to work here, they can’t take the job because they can’t afford it. It’s tragic that nurses and other people in our community can no longer afford to live in the community they care for.

“When St. Charles can’t hire or retain nurses, patients suffer.”

Patients experience longer wait times and hospital stays and wind up paying more for care, or risk infections, Mealy said. Good patient care begins with nurses, Harrington said.

“The vacancies put a strain on the nurses here,” Harrington said. “Nurses have to take more patients than they should and that overloads the nurses and further exacerbates the nursing situation for our people. It’s not safe.”

This story first appeared in bendbulletin.com