As community members, we support Baystate Franklin Medical Center nurses and their just proposals for:

• Resources that they and all of the hospital’s excellent caregivers need to provide safe patient care, which includes adequate staffing in the ER, the nursing floors and in the psychiatric unit.

• A safe environment in the hospital for staff and patients.

• Fair and competitive wages, and decent health insurance and retirement benefits to attract and retain caregivers and to reward them for their service to the community.

BFMC nurses' issues are our issues. We trust and support the expressed needs of the RNs and other health care workers as a bellwether of what the hospital requires to meet the needs of the community.