BURLINGTON — Hundreds marched in downtown Burlington to protest the University of Vermont Medical Center on Sunday afternoon.
A group of approximately 500 healthcare workers and supporters marched on Church Street to protest recent layoffs and demand a fair contract for hospital workers and staff.
The rally and march were not solely a demand to end the cuts, but a push for the “common good” contract goals, according to President of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Nicole Devita.
The contract was proposed by the American Federation of Teachers Vermont and VFNHP and includes establishing safe staffing grids, livable wages and support for Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity campaign, allowing non-union UVM Medical Center employees to form bargaining units, as well as support for Act 48, Vermont’s publicly funded universal healthcare law.
A FAIR CONTRACT
Devita said both technical professionals and UVM Medical Center support staff are united in bargaining for fair contact.
“I mean, one of the top priorities that we’ve heard from our members before we started our contract campaign was safe staffing,” she said. “And as everyone is well aware, there have been cuts to staffing made just recently, which obviously affects patient care.”
State regulators told the network to cut administrative and overhead expenses, not clinical services, Devita said.
“Unfortunately, we, as those who provide the patient care, are facing the cuts,” she said.
They are fighting for the resources to provide quality care.
“We’re out here fighting for our community. We’re out here fighting for our patients. We want to provide the high quality care that the network is supposed to be provided. We cannot do that with less,” Devita said.
She called on UVM to “be a leader” in taking steps to address the unaffordable state of healthcare in Vermont and support Act 48.
“The community, the people, want universal healthcare, that bill enacted and funded. And we have asked for them to not provide any resources into prohibiting that,” she said.
A PERSONAL TESTIMONIAL
After the march, the crowd gathered at City Hall Park to hear directly from healthcare workers impacted by the cuts.
Vice President of Technical Professionals at VFNHP Michael “Poppy” Popovitch spoke about how the planned cuts will impact himself and his fellow healthcare workers.
Popovitch, an operating room specialist and radiologic and vascular technologist who has been at the hospital for 20 years, said trying to lose weight is something he’s struggled with since 14-years-old.
“The weight stigma has caused anxiety, depression, discrimination and many other issues that have contributed to having to mask my personality and struggles with my mental health,” he said to the crowd. “It has, in my adulthood, caused issues with cholesterol, high blood pressure, chronic back, hip and knee pain.”
Eighteen months ago, at 370 pounds, he started GLP-1. He currently weighs 270 pounds and called it a miracle.
“Across UVMMC, our fellow coworkers and their families have found something that has finally changed their lives,” he said. “After years of struggling with obesity and chronic diseases that have come with it, many like me have found treatment that works.”
Popovitch said for many, access to GLP-1 treatments is the hope they needed, but UVMMC has plans to cut the treatment.
He proposed the question to the crowd: What happens after the cut and the nurses that need it are unable to maintain continuous treatment?
“These costs don’t disappear; they’re simply pushed into the future, where patients eventually, and eventually our healthcare system, will pay an even higher price,” he said. “But there’s another cost that can’t be measured by their precious spreadsheets: the emotional toll.”
‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’
Secretary for UVM Medical Center Support Staff United Melissa Lavallee lead the rally Sunday afternoon.
“We are here, patients and healthcare workers together, because Vermonters pay the highest healthcare costs in the country. But that money isn’t going to workers,” Lavallee said to the crowd at University Green, then asked, “Where does the money go?”
Lavalle said the executive salaries, rebrands, consultants, lobbyists and mid-level managers that cost the system millions of dollars “isn’t doing anything for us or our patients.”
“Workers are coming together to say enough is enough,” she said. “We cannot keep accepting being asked to do more with less. We cannot accept more cuts, more reductions, more eliminations.”
Cancer Center at UVM scheduling team member Teagan Cook addressed the reports of chronic understaffing in their department.
The cancer center sees hundreds of patients daily, according to Cook. Between 13 schedulers and a rising number of patients, the post-appointment instructions for care are becoming harder to process on time.
“We don’t have enough staff to keep up, and it’s been that way for way too long,” Cook said. “The fact is, with our patient load, there are not enough hours in the day to even tread water. We are losing ground.
“We feel that we’re failing and betraying our patients constantly. We cannot give them the care that they need and deserve.”