Hello, my name is Danielle Majewski. I am a nurse in Antigo, WI and I work at Aspirus Langlade Hospital. I am also the president of our union in the hospital.

• Over the last couple of years, Aspirus Health received over $150 million dollars from the federal government due to the pandemic.
• In 2020, the hospital president received a 27.7% raise, which is a whopping $88,760.
• The CEO of the system, Matt Heywood, got a 16.9% increase – or almost $200,000 dollars more added to his multi-million dollar yearly pay.
• Meanwhile, they’re offering nurses and healthcare workers who care for patients a meager 1.75% raise for this year and next year. We believe we deserve more, and Aspirus can clearly afford it!
• We fear there aren't enough of us to care for our patients, and Aspirus should pay us better and staff us safer so we can do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Please, sign this petition if you stand with us - nurses, med techs, and therapists who are on the frontlines of this pandemic! 

This petition is meant to bring attention to the tragedy that is occurring in your local hospital and to demand Aspirus Health listen to us when we tell them what we need – better pay and safer staffing. Too many of our nurses, med techs, and therapists are leaving this hospital and hospitals across the country, and it isn’t because of burnout. It is because we are being lit on fire by corporate healthcare. We as your nurses and frontline healthcare providers fear for your safety because we have been working under-staffed for too long. The pandemic is making it even worse. The simple truth is there would be more nurses and caregivers if we were paid fair wages by Aspirus Health. Over the last few years, Aspirus received over $150 million in federal relief money and used some of it to build rooms specifically for a COVID unit. The problem is, there aren’t enough nurses to staff those brand new rooms, so it is not uncommon for us to try to track down open beds in other states for our patients, and our local ER nurses are having to see and treat patients in essentially a closet. Also over the last few years, the hospital president received a 27.7% raise, which is a whopping $88,760. The CEO of the system, Matt Heywood, got a 16.9% increase – or almost $200,000 dollars more added to his multi-million dollar yearly pay. Meanwhile, they’re offering nurses and healthcare workers who care for patients a meager 1.75% raise in contract negotiations! There has been too much turnover among caregivers during this time, and it’s hard to view these facts as unrelated. Nurses here and across the country don't even want to be nurses anymore, and it’s things like this that make us feel so disrespected. (If you haven't seen our article in the Antigo Times, please check it out here.)

We took an oath to do no harm and lately we fear that we aren't able to uphold this statement. How would you feel if it was your loved one being sent across the country to Texas because there are no local beds here due to STAFFING? How would you feel if your wife, husband, mother, father, daughter, son, or sibling came to the hospital to get emergent care and they were seen by an overwhelmed nurse in a closet instead of a regular hospital room?! We can improve this simply by having SAFER STAFFING RATIOS AND BETTER PAY which would mean MORE NURSES AND HEALTHCARE WORKERS at the bedside.  We are asking you to stand with us and tell Aspirus that we deserve more than a 1.75% raise. We want to RETAIN our nurses here and not continue to lose them, which would be detrimental to the community we serve. If you have further questions please reach out to me. If you feel you can support this than please sign and stand with us!!