As part of nationwide May Day protests Friday, workers across Kansas demonstrated for better working conditions.
In Wichita, about 60 nurses picketed in front of Ascension Via Christi's St. Francis hospital, waving signs with slogans like “Be Fair to Those Who Care." They marched for an hour.
The nurses were advocating for better security measures and staffing improvements at Ascension Via Christi's two hospitals, St. Joseph and St. Francis.
Shelly Rader, a registered nurse in the St. Francis emergency room, waved at passing cars between chants. She said the demonstration was intended to send a message to both hospital leadership and patients.
“I want the community to know that we are out here for them, that we want to take care of them,” Rader said. “We have been here fighting for them every day that we come to work. We want them to have the best care that they can get while they're here at St. Francis or St. Joseph.”
The nurses are represented by National Nurses United, the largest organization of registered nurses in the country. They are currently in negotiations for a new contract.
Officials with Ascension Via Christi said they continue to prioritize safe staffing and violence prevention. They said they use tools like visible security measures and early threat assessment.
Wichita nurses won their first contract with Ascension in 2024. The two-year agreement added better nurse-to-patient ratios in every unit and new standards for violence prevention.
Marvin Ruckle, a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Joseph, said he hopes hospital administration was listening on Friday.
“We’re sending a message to our leadership that we, as union nurses, stand together,” Ruckle said. “We've been asking for change, and it's been slow, but we need change immediately. We're in the middle of negotiations, and negotiations are somewhat stalling.”
Nurses say they continue to see preventable security lapses. On Friday, they talked about a grenade found in a patient's bathroom and a gun fired in the pediatric ward. Their solution is better security systems like weapons detectors at entrances.
“We want weapons detection, which we have been asking for the last two years,” Ruckle said. "Weapons are getting in. Nurses are having to take guns from patients in the ER. We need more safety.”
As she held her sign high, Rader said she has personal experience with security lapses at the hospital.
“I was attacked by a patient,” Rader said. “It was very stressful and very emotional. Several of my co-workers have been attacked in the ER, and it's just getting worse.”
The staffing issues increase the threat of aggression, Rader said. The propensity for violence increases as fewer nurses take care of more patients.
“It's not that there's no nurses, it's that nurses do not want to work at unsafe places,” Rader said. “If we can get our healthcare to realize that our patients need to be safe and that the nurses need to have more staffing, that would be great.”
Several community members joined nurses on the picket line Friday. Ruckle said the nurses appreciate the support, and that their concerns affect the entire city.
“We're doing this for the safety of everyone out there, because all of us will probably end up in a hospital bed at some point in our lives,” Ruckle said. “We want our community to be safe.”
