By Justin Wier

jwier@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Several nurses from Northside Regional Medical Center showed up at Thursday’s Mahoning County commissioners’ meeting to voice their displeasure with the hospital’s new ownership.

Anne Mueller, a labor representative with the Ohio Nurses Association, said the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, which represents the Northside nurses, has a 51-year history of overcoming obstacles to serve the Youngstown community.

She said Steward Health Care’s idea of “better than ever” means eliminating nurses’ voices from patient-care and staffing discussions and running a skeleton crew.

Marcia Schiffauer, who has worked at Northside for 35 years, said the Boston-based Steward wants to put “Boston profits over Youngstown patients.”

She said the average nurse at Northside has 25 years of experience and has a connection to the community.

“We’re here to stay,” Schiffauer said. “We’re part of our community, and we want to maintain care.”

Jeannie Mulichak, who has worked at Northside for 38 years, said the nurses are truly invested in the community’s well-being.

Hospital spokeswoman Alexa Hall said the company is proud of the quality care it provides to patients every day.

“Steward Health Care takes pride in the collaborative work we have done with multiple unions to continue improving care and jobs in various locations throughout our family of community hospitals,” Hall said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our good faith negotiations with our valued nurses on both Tuesday and Wednesday.”

The nurses’ contract expires at the end of the month.

The nurses asked the commissioners to adopt a resolution that supports the nurses, which they agreed to do at a future meeting.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti applauded the approach the nurses took.

“I’ve not heard one thing about money,” she said. “I’ve heard about patient care.”

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti thanked the nurses and said Steward should not be cutting corners at the expense of patient health.