Taylor Kuykendall, Register-Herald, April 21, 2011 A nurses union recently secured a three-year contract for nurses at several southern West Virginia hospitals. More than 750 Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) nurses represented by the Southern United Nurses, an affiliate of the National Nurses United, entered into a contract agreement with ARH. The deal involves ARH locations in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. “ARH entered into these negotiations with the goal of reaching a fair contract with competitive wages and benefits,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, executive director of Human Resources and Labor Relations for ARH. ... ARH

Associated Press, April 20, 2011 Charleston - Appalachian Regional Healthcare says a contract covering more than 750 registered nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia has been ratified. Appalachian says in a news release that nurses represented by the Southern United Nurses approved the new three-year contract Tuesday. The nonprofit health care system didn't provide details. The new contract is effective May 1. Appalachian Regional Healthcare operates nine hospitals in West Virginia and Kentucky. It also operates physician practices, home health agencies, HomeCare Stores and retail pharmacies.

Officials with Appalachian Regional Healthcare say registered nurses approved new three-year contract. West Virginia Media, April 20, 2011 Beckley -  Seven hundred-fifty registered nurses represented by Southern United Nurses in West Virginia and Kentucky voted to ratify a new three-year contract Tuesday, April 19, 2011. The deal goes in to effect on May 1. Hospital officials said they entered negotiations with a goal of reaching a fair contract with competitive wages and benefits. ARH owns nine hospitals in the two states, including Summers County Appalachian Regional and Beckley Appalachian Regional Hospitals. Copyright 2011 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved.

WYMT, April 19, 2011 Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) registered nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia voted Tuesday to ratify a new three-year contract. The contract covers more than 750 of ARH's registered nurses represented by the Southern United Nurses (SUN) and will be effective May 1. “ARH entered into these negotiations with the goal of reaching a fair contract with competitive wages and benefits,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, executive director of Human Resources and Labor Relations for ARH. “The ratified agreement will help ARH remain a viable and sustainable healthcare system.” ... ARH

Associated Press, November 14, 2007 West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin
is urging striking nurses and Appalachian Regional Healthcare officials
to settle their dispute. About 630 nurses working at ARH hospitals in
Kentucky and West Virginia walked off the job on October 1 after their
contract expired. The two sides have yet to reach agreement on issues
ranging from pay to staffing. ARH is one of the region's largest health
care providers and owns seven hospitals in Kentucky and two in West
Virginia. ... Manchin

Richard, Union Review, November 12, 2007 After hearing that nearly 700
nurses striking at Appalachian Regional Heath Care (ARH), who are
represented by the Kentucky and West Virginia Nurses
Associations/United American Nurses are being met with underhanded and
violent measures brought against them ..., I thought it was time to
raise even greater awareness of this situation. I hold many discussions
with nonunion workers who somewhere along the line will talk about the
coercion they believe occurs with union workers organizing. I almost
always reply with, “it happens on both sides;” this story is
case-in-point. ... Striking

Bev Davis, Beckley Register-Herald, October 27, 2007 Although labor and
management remain divided on the issues that led to a nursing strike
against Appalachian Regional Healthcare, both sides will meet with a
federal mediator Monday in Lexington, Kentucky, for more collective
bargaining talks. “Our goal is to go and negotiate in good faith and
get a resolution to all of this,” said Rue Hairston, state economic and
general welfare chair of the West Virginia Nurses Association. “We all
need to work for the good of our patients. They didn’t deserve to be
put in the middle of all this. ARH needs to come together with us so we
can work for the good of the patients.” ... Strike

Andrew Clevenger, Charlston Gazette, June 30, 2006
Three former nurses at a Glasgow nursing home have filed a wrongful termination suit in Kanawha Circuit Court against their former employer. In the suit against Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services Inc., Hubert Atkins II, Michelle Gill and Pamela Givens allege that they were either fired or forced to resign after they reported cases of abuse or neglect to their superiors. Jean Lavender, who is listed as director of nursing services at the facility, is also named in the suit.

Atkins, a licensed practical nurse, alleges that shortly after he began working at Beverly in June 2005, he complained to his nursing supervisor that another nurse had falsely charted a patient’s treatment. The next day he was called into Lavender’s office, where she warned him against becoming a “trouble maker” and a “tattle tale,” the suit contends. On another occasion, Gill, also a licensed practical nurse, complained to the company’s corporate office that co-workers failed to report circulatory problems in a resident’s leg, which was later amputated, according to the suit. Lavender allegedly told Gill that her complaint was unsubstantiated because “the resident would have lost his leg anyway.”

Sarah Zopfi, Herald-Dispatch, February 22, 2006

Huntington - Lindsay Clark is only a junior at Marshall University, but she already works 40 hours a week.

Clark, a student in the nursing program at MU, said spending 40 plus hours a week in the classroom and making rounds at the hospital is not only common for her, but essential.

"I went into nursing because I liked the idea of being able to get a job easily after school," Clark said. "Some of my professors have talked about a shortage of nurses in the state, so I knew going into this it would be easy to get a job." ... Back

Nurses at Beckley ARH won't be striking, after all.
Steve Ring, WVNS, December 7, 2005

Nurses at Beckley Appalachian Regional Healthcare were planning to go on strike December 12, but that plan is now off.

A strike was averted Tuesday, when the ARH system and a nurses union reached an agreement.

At issue was the nurses' four-year-old collective bargaining agreement.

It allowed (sic) nurses to work three 12-hour shifts without getting overtime pay. ... Scheduled

A group of nine nurses from BAR-H in Beckley took part in what they said was an educational rally last Wednesday.
Liz Kravitz, May 2, 2005

Last week nurses were standing on the side of the road in Beckley letting people know about their concerns.

59 News spoke with Bill Riggs from the Kentucky Nurses association, the group that organized the event.

He says the nurses were educating the community about nurses concerns that adequate staffing and safe patient care was not being responded to by Beckley ARH management. ... Nurses

Associated Press, October 11, 2004

Weirton - Weirton Medical Center has reached a tentative labor agreement with a union that represents nearly 80 percent of the hospital's nurses, technical, service and maintenance employees.

Members of the Service Employees International Union District 1199 began voting on the proposed contract Monday morning, but results were not expected until late in the evening.

"We are pleased to have reached this milestone after 10 months of bargaining," said Dr. Joseph Endrick, the hospital's president and CEO. "Both negotiating teams worked especially hard ... to secure this agreement, which we believe to be fair and equitable."

Endrick said he would not comment on specifics, pending the ratification vote.

Associated Press, February 26, 2004

Charleston - Gov. Bob Wise signed into law Wednesday a bill barring private hospitals from forcing nurses to work overtime except in emergencies or to complete a patient procedure.

Surrounded by dozens of white-uniformed nurses, Wise echoed health care and union officials by saying the law would improve patient safety and prevent medical mistakes by nurses exhausted by long hours.

Beginning May 17, nurses who work more than 12 hours must be allowed at least eight hours off.

''We cannot ask nurses to work hours on end, jeopardizing patient and employee lives,'' Wise said.

The law will cover an estimated 10,100 nurses at West Virginia's 60 private hospitals. Four state-run hospitals and four veterans' hospitals run by the federal government are unaffected.