Coalition that includes Pa. legislators seeks in-person meeting with UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital board

A coalition of nurses, patients and community members wants to address the board of Magee-Womens Hospital face-to-face next month at its annual public meeting as union nurses and advanced practitioners continue contract negotiations with the hospital system.

The group on Thursday submitted a letter signed by more than 1,200 people to the board, which oversees the hospital, urging it to shift its Oct. 12 online meeting to an in-person gathering with an hour set aside for comment from nurses, practitioners and patients. The board is made up of 29 members, 19 of whom have voting power.

Pennsylvania code requires hospital boards to host an annual public meeting, but since the pandemic, Magee’s meetings have been held virtually, according to a press release from the group.

“I think it’s important for them to open the doors to us,” said Erica Winger, an inpatient OB-GYN nurse practitioner at Magee.

But it’s unclear whether the letter will have much impact.

Reached Thursday morning, board chair William A. Pietragallo, II said things would proceed virtually.

“The meeting will be as scheduled,” Pietragallo, a Pittsburgh attorney, said. “I haven’t changed anything.”

UPMC did not immediately offer comment on the letter.

The nurses are backed by numerous local elected officials and more than a dozen state legislators from across Allegheny County who signed on to the letter.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, who chairs the state House’s health committee, said there’s a “long history” of tension between UPMC and the community. He said an in-person meeting at the hospital, which sits in his district, could be an opportunity to “change that dynamic.”

“This is a community that has concerns about quality of care,” Frankel said. “It’s awfully important that they hear this.”

Frankel and Rep. Aerion Abney, D-Manchester, agreed that an in-person meeting comes down to a matter of “transparency.”

Among the most significant and long-standing concerns of hospital nurses are staffing standards.

In March, Magee nurses presented their staffing proposals to UPMC, including standards established by the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, which includes dedicating one nurse for every patient in active labor. Allegheny County Council endorsed the plan earlier this summer.

That came after around 900 nurses and advanced practitioners at Magee — Southwestern Pennsylvania’s largest labor and delivery center — voted to join the SEIU Healthcare PA union last August and September.

A year later, however, they’re still without a contract.

The union and hospital system are scheduled to meet for their 37th bargaining session Thursday.

Courtney Szigety, a former UPMC audiologist who gave birth to her two daughters at Magee, praised the care from the hospital’s nurses but said she was seen by multiple people as nurses juggled several patients during her second, high-risk birth.

“I resonate with a lot of what the nurses are talking about,” said Szigety, 33, of Ben Avon Heights.

If a dedicated nurse had been fully assigned to her, Szigety said she would have felt better supported.

Though Winger said UPMC had tended to have a “closed-door policy,” she said she’s cautiously optimistic the letter will prompt a change.

“Hopefully they let us in — it’s time,” she said.