The approximately 100 registered nurses at the hospital voted Wednesday to greenlight a potential one-day strike, according to a statement from the Massachusetts Nurses Union.
Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is one of several hospitals facing a shortage of IV fluid after flooding from Hurricane Helene forced one of the country’s primary manufacturers to close.
In a new partnership described as “the greatest of leaps,” Martha’s Vineyard Hospital has entered into an agreement for sharing staff and expertise with Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The agreement means that the hospitals will share doctors, including specialists that the Island hospital does not keep on staff full-time, such as pulmonary physicians and oncologists. In addition, Island medical personnel will go to the Boston hospitals on occasion for training, and vice versa.
Four years after the onset of the pandemic, Island providers say they are adding new services and on the cusp of rolling out new programs that have long been requested by law enforcement.
A group of ambulatory nurses at Martha's Vineyard Hospital voted this week to unionize. They say they want to create a better environment for themselves and their patients.
As the town weighs the potential impacts of the climate crisis in the coming decades, a high priority is maintaining access to the hospital, which is located on the coast in an already active flood zone.
Thirty-three ambulatory care nurses at the hospital filed the petition on Monday with the National Labor Relations Board and hope to soon have an union election.
