Registered Nurses are the heart of healthcare. We continue to lead the charge through our everchanging COVID-19 pandemic and tirelessly continue to care for our community despite exhaustion and burnout; at times putting ourselves and our families at risk. Our situation continues to be exacerbated by ongoing nurse retention and recruitment issues. Almost every member of our community has, or will be, impacted by the compassion, knowledge, and dedication our Missoula nurses bring to the families in our community and surrounding areas. Our local Missoula nurses remain committed to providing the safest and highest quality care possible to the patients we serve, because WE are also part of this community.

Nurses at St Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center go above and beyond to deliver extraordinary care. They are an important, valuable, and an integral part of the Missoula community care teams and deserve to be treated as such, as they are the most trusted profession.

Missoula registered nurses are joining together, with our community, to ask St Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center to recognize the importance of keeping our nurses local by acknowledging how essential registered nurse experience is  to a healthy thriving community. We need to retain our registered nurses in this community to provide stability, progress, and safety to our patients. We ask the leadership teams of St Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center to understand the importance of keeping our nurses in this community; valuing and prioritizing their work / life balance; and providing them the best resources to allow them to provide safe care in a safe environment. Our Missoula communities deserve to keep our nurses local because a local nurse is an invested nurse!

Here are a few statements of what nurse retention means to nurses in your area:

·       “My 20+ years of experience should stay in my community”

·       “Experience saves lives”

·       “I want to help your loved ones get better”

·       “Experience helps shape the FUTURE!”

·       “Patients deserve educated, dedicated, and compassionate care!”

·       “Patient safety comes from experience”

·       “Experienced nurses are the foundation for the future of healthcare”

Every nurse at St Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center is critical to the safety and health of our community. We ask that these hospitals make nurse retention their NUMBER 1 priority so nurses are able to provide the safest possible care to the families they serve.