(EVERETT) Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is going on the defensive after receiving a critical letter from local elected officials.
The response comes as we’re learning more about a patient who may have died while waiting for care.
Earlier this month, both the Everett City Council and the Snohomish County Council signed a letter critical of the hospital’s staffing issues. Providence has now responded with its own letter, promising open forums, listening sessions, and an increase in nursing assistants.
The response also cited the hospital’s Emergency Room as one of the “busiest in the state,” which is key in the case of a woman who died in that E-R.
The medical examiner originally had said a patient died while in the emergency room’s waiting area. That report has been amended to read that back on November 3rd, a patient in the waiting room passed out, and by the time the patient got a bed in the E-R, the 41 year-old Arlington woman was dead.
The hospital is now investigating this incident as some wonder if short staffing and long wait times contributed to the death.
Providence’s nurse’s union wants an answer. A spokesperson tells the Times the union is working with employees to file complaints regarding staffing and safety.