Union takes on Union

LYNN – Massachusetts’ largest health-care union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, has reached out to Partners HealthCare for the second time about its plans to close Union Hospital.Veronica Turner, executive vice president of 1199, wrote a letter to Partners’ president and CEO Dr. David Torchiana saying, “the effective shuttering of this important community institution will have an overwhelming negative impact not only on 1199SEIU members living near or employed at the hospital, but also on the greater Lynn community, including thousands of vulnerable seniors.”The letter asks for a meeting between Partners and the health-care workers of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East at Union Hospital.The letter describes what the union would like to discuss at the meeting, which includes the preservation of hospital services, its plan to maintain an emergency room in Lynn over the next several years, and the commissioning of an independent study about community health needs and the impact that closing the hospital will have on city residents.The letter also asks Torchiana to attend a town hall-type forum in Lynn in order to have “transparency and accountability to the Lynn community.” Such a forum would also be an opportunity to discuss the results of the independent community impact study, the letter says.The union represents 850 workers at Union Hospital. In total, it represents 52,000 members in the state, said 1199SEIU Vice President Tyrek Lee.This is the union’s second attempt at reaching out to Partners. Lee said 1199 sent out a letter almost immediately after Partners first announced their plans a year ago. There was also an online petition, Lee said.”We got no response at all,” he said. “They weren’t willing to meet. We were just asking for a seat at the table. It’s still not clear what their plans are.”Partners has said that it plans to move services from Union to Salem Hospital. It’s a decision that has received a lot of backlash from the community, which feels that it’s necessary for Lynn to have its own hospital.”Lynn used to have two full-service hospitals,” said Joy McNaughton, a nurse at Union Hospital. “It’s a city that has a lot of crime and drugs, the elderly population is growing. We need to have a hospital.”A “Save Union Hospital” group has formed in opposition to Partners eliminating care at the hospital. It has received a lot of support, has held successful protests and has played a large role in the city council’s decision to open an investigation with Attorney General Maura Healey.”Lynn is the eighth largest city in Massachusetts and it would be without a hospital,” McNaughton said. “How do you justify that?”McNaughton has worked for Union Hospital for almost 10 years. She worked for Lynn Hospital before it closed, and before that, Winthrop Hospital until it closed.She doesn’t think she will be going to Salem Hospital if this takes place, she said.”I came to work at Union because I wanted to work someplace where I could provide good patient care,” she said. The results of a patient satisfaction survey revealed that patients were 100 percent satisfied with their care in every single category, she said.”Partners strives to provide the perfect patient experience, that’s their motto,” she said. “Union is doing that.””We feel Partners is putting profit before patients,” said Lee.”They began slowly cutting services and making changes at the hospital about five years ago, she said. “Partners gave just enough information to make people think nothing was going on.”Services such as inpatient physical therapy and the bariatric program are no longer offered.”I’ve heard surgeons tell patients to go to Salem and not Union,” she said.”The reason the hospital isn’t making money is because they’re moving services,” said Nick Smith of 1199SEIU.”They’re also getting rid of interpretive services in a diverse place like Lynn,” said Lee. They’re now only offering Spanish and Russian during the week.”They could bring back th