Skagit Regional Health nurses,

Your WSNA officers and Nurse Representative invite you to join us for a virtual drop-in meeting tonight. This is an opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns, hear updates, and connect with fellow nurses from across the hospital.

Whether you have questions about staffing, scheduling, annual leave, investigations, workplace concerns, or simply want to learn more about what your union is working on, we encourage you to join us. Knowing is half the battle.

Date: Tonight (9/14/2026)
Time: 1730
Via Teams: JOIN HERE 

No registration is required. Join when you can and stay as long as you'd like.

Annual Leave Concerns

WSNA continues to hear concerns from nurses, particularly in the Family Birth Center, regarding annual leave scheduling and approval practices.

These concerns have been raised with management through Conference Committee and the grievance process. Nurses have expressed concerns regarding how annual leave requests are being evaluated and whether current practices are more restrictive than those previously used. 

Time away from work is important for patient safety, nurse well-being, and retention. If you have experienced problems obtaining annual leave or have concerns regarding scheduling practices in your department, we encourage you to share your experiences with your WSNA officers and attend tonight's meeting.

ADOs Matter: Help Us Document Staffing Concerns

One of the most effective tools nurses have under Washington's Safe Staffing law is the Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form.

When staffing decisions, missed breaks, lack of break coverage, or patient assignments create concerns about patient safety or nurse safety, documenting those concerns through an ADO helps create an official record. ADOs allow WSNA, Hospital Staffing Committees, regulators, and management to identify patterns that may otherwise be dismissed as isolated incidents.

Recently, we have heard concerns regarding break coverage practices and the use of nurses "buddy breaking" one another instead of having dedicated break nurse coverage. While every unit's staffing plan is different, staffing plans are developed for a reason. If your staffing plan provides for break relief nurses, and nurses are routinely being required to cover one another's breaks instead, it may indicate that the staffing plan is not being followed as intended.

If you cannot take your breaks, if breaks are delayed, if you are expected to cover another nurse's patients without adequate support, or if break relief staffing is unavailable, please consider submitting an ADO.

The more complete our documentation, the stronger our ability to advocate for safe staffing, enforce staffing plans, and support the resources nurses need to safely care for patients. ADOs and changes require showing trends, sometimes over a longer period of time than we would like. 

At the last HSC meeting Brian Ivie notified the committee that the staffing plans with the improvements the team pushed so far have been approved for 2027. More to come on that. If you have not heard back on your ADO or your response is not satisfactory, please contact one of the officers or your nurse rep. 

Stay Involved

The strongest protection for nurses comes from engaged nurses.

Thank you to everyone who continues to submit ADOs, participate in staffing discussions, attend meetings, and support one another. Your involvement helps strengthen our collective voice and improve working conditions for all nurses.

We hope to see you tonight.

In Solidarity,

Liz Rainaud, Co-Chair
Kyla Malean, Co-Chair
Kim McCann, Secretary
Rachel Yates, Treasurer
Mackenzie Anderson, Grievance Officer
Crissi Franulovich, Grievance Officer
Robin Cully, WSNA Nurse Representative