United Nurses and Parkview Community Hospital Partnership Awarded Federal Labor-Management Grant

October 2009

Riverside, CA – The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP), in a collaborative effort with Parkview Community Hospital and Medical Center, has been awarded a $60,000 grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). The grant, to be used by the hospital’s Registered Nurse Advisory Committee (RNAC), will help foster positive and effective labor-management communication and cooperation through the development of a customer service program to improve the quality of patient care at Parkview.

“Registered Nurses at Parkview joined UNAC/UHCP so that we could play a larger role in providing the highest quality of patient care possible,” stated Penny Brown, RN and president of the Parkview Registered Nurses Association. “We are grateful to FMCS for awarding us this grant to help improve our developing partnership with management. FMCS played an important role in getting us to our first union contract, and continues to extend its support to ensure that we have a strong voice for patient care in the workplace as we work together with management to make Parkview better.”

Parkview’s RNAC was formed as part of the Registered Nurses’ first contract negotiations between UNAC/UHCP and Parkview administration. The RNAC intends to use the FMCS grant to develop a sustainable customer service program that incorporates patient, employee and physician stakeholder groups in determining the best way to provide health care services to the Riverside community.

“Health care facilities that truly seek to provide the highest quality of patient care utilize all of the resources at their disposal, including their staff,” stated Kathy J. Sackman, RN and UNAC/UHCP president. “The FMCS grant will help create an amicable working environment that will contribute to moving Parkview forward in a positive direction toward providing high quality patient care.”

The grant period is 18 months long and will end in March 2011.

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