UAPD’s Legacy Urgent Care Clinic Providers have been bargaining in good faith with Multicare for two years to establish a sane and safe clinic closing policy. Our providers often see patients nonstop for 14 to 15 hours, well beyond their scheduled shifts. This assembly line mentality must stop. The stress and fatigue from these long shifts pose a danger to both our providers and the patients they serve. No one wants to see an increase in medical errors. Our bargaining team has put forward reasonable and creative solutions to solve the problem of patient access and safe care. But Multicare hasn’t listened.
Thus, our doctors and providers have been forced to take our message into a public venue. On Monday, February 25, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, urgent care providers, along with their sisters and brothers from other labor unions will hold an informational picket in front of the Legacy Urgent care clinic in Puyallup. The address is 220 15th Avenue SE, Puyallup, WA 98372. This collective action will not impact any patient care. All Multicare clinics will remain open for business. During this event, we will hear how other labor groups, such as teachers, pilots, truckers, and construction workers, have solved their own shift fatigue problems.
Multi- needs to put “care” back into its name. They need to care about their providers’ well being instead of trying to surpass profit records at their employees’ expense. They need to care about perfecting an urgent care system that balances access with quality care. Multi- has been spinning off so many business models—Indigo, Immediate Care, Free Standing Emergency Rooms, etc—that they have lost focus. Most importantly, they need to care more about patient safety issues and not their overaggressive billing practices. Please join us by lending your voice to our cause so that Multicare may hear us.