I was employed by Mount Nittany Medical Center from 1975 until my retirement in 2017. I stand by the employees in their struggle to gain fair wages and benefits.
I have participated in negotiations in the past, striving for the same things staff is striving for today. Wages for managers continue to increase at a fair rate, but the same fair rate is withheld from staff until they stand up for themselves and demand what they have earned.
Add to the list short staffing which endangers patient care and safety as well as staff safety, sometimes having to fight for time to eat your meal, to fighting for compensation for your meal if no staff is available to cover, not having a break, again for lack of staffing, sometimes mandatory overtime.
While I am grateful for my position then, and the pay that enabled me to provide for my family, it was earned. I recognize names of workers who are still employed there, and they deserve what they are asking for. Please support them.
Ruby Bomboy,
Howard
Mount Nittany Workers Make the Difference
I’ve been watching the news about what’s going on at Mount Nittany Medical Center with a lot of concern and anger.
For people like me, this is not just about a fair contract for the employees. This is also about the future of a hospital that we have entrusted to care for generations of our most loved people.
I live in Clearfield County, but after the Philipsburg hospital closed in the ‘90s, we all chose Mount Nittany because of their reputation for care.
This is where we took my husband when he had a heart attack in December. This is where my mother-in-law received cancer treatment.
And this is where my father, an above and below ground miner for 32 years, finally accepted treatment for his black lung after years of refusing.
See, my father refused to go to the doctor his whole life. But when I brought him to Mount Nittany because he couldn’t breathe, the team of doctors, nurses and staff changed his mind.
The staff at Mount Nittany don’t treat you like you’re just a number. They get to know you. They care.
My father trusted and loved the staff. He had his favorite nurses.
My whole family worked the coal mines because it used to be the only job in Central Pennsylvania that you could raise a family on without a degree. But when my dad retired, he didn’t end up on the bottle he thought he would – an oxygen bottle.
After all he went through, the staff at Mount Nittany who made the end of his journey comfortable means everything to me. They allowed my family to have more time with him.
So it makes me upset to hear that Mount Nittany is not valuing their staff. The hospital should pay for the talent and compassion that all of these employees put into Mount Nittany.
These workers are the ones there for us when a loved one is in a car accident or you come into the ER scared about symptoms.
They are the reason why Mount Nittany is seeing money and patients come in.
There is no bright future for the hospital without the bright workers who make the difference.
I want the workers at Mount Nittany to know that you have the complete support of all the people across counties who come to the hospital for your care. Keep fighting for us and for what you deserve too.
Peggy Smith,
Clearfield County
