‘It takes a village’: Kansas City nurses rally for better working conditions

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - On Tuesday, dozens of Kansas City nurses lined the sidewalk outside HCA Midwest Health Research Center to address critical issues with staffing, safety, and services at their hospitals.

Nurses at the rally work at Research Medical Center in Kansas City or Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park. They’re represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United. The current union contract will expire on May 31.

KCTV5 spoke with nurses at the rally who said the biggest issues within the hospitals are staffing and working conditions.

“What we’re trying to do is get language codified into a contract that’s going to hold HCA accountable when they underserve our patients and nurses,” RN Jake Liston said.

HCA is the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States. Hospital representatives said 89 nurses left Menorah and 150 nurses left Research in 2023.

Ahead of the rally, HCA Midwest released the following statement.

“HCA Midwest Health’s staffing is safe and appropriate, and we are proud of the high-quality, compassionate, and award-winning care we provide, which has been recognized by independent third-party patient safety ratings organizations like Healthgrades. In 2023, we successfully stabilized our nursing workforce by hiring 842 new staff members to our nursing organization at both Research Medical Center and Menorah Medical Center. Additionally, we are building our nursing pipeline and recently announced a comprehensive $34.5 million investment in Research College of Nursing from HCA Healthcare. An activity like this sometimes occurs when a union and an employer are engaged in negotiations for a contract, as we are with NNU. Today’s activity is no different than similar actions NNU has taken against health systems across the country. We value our nurses and are hopeful that we can quickly reach an agreement on a new contract that is fair and reasonable for both sides.”

For reference, Research Medical Center has received the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for 5 years and Menorah Medical Center has received the award for 7 years in a row.

Cheryl Rodarmel is a rehab nurse at HCA Research Medical Center and has worked there for over 30 years. She said staffing has reached dangerous numbers.

“I know HCA will tell you it’s just a shortage of nurses,” Rodarmel said. “That shortage is because nurses don’t want to work under unsafe conditions.”

According to a recent NNOC/NNU survey, 68 percent of nurses said they infrequently or never had enough staffing coverage to take their meal and rest breaks. 72 percent of nurses said patient care quality had decreased.

The current union contract will expire on May 31. Many cars honked at the nurses standing outside and Liston said he anticipates support to grow.

“It takes a village to see real change, real improvements and we need it,” Liston said. “Our community is already underserved and we need to see improvements in the hospital.”

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