Frontline Workers

I had an injury in at my previous job. It was due to the workstation not being appropriate for my height. I had talked about the issues I had with my workstation for years and unfortunately no attention was brought to it until an injury occurred....My hand actually locked up in the middle of work. When I came to this pharmacy, I wanted to make sure that no one else went through that experience. That’s why I become a workplace safety champion.

I was using a mobile X-ray machine in a patient’s room....I had the machine and the tube set up, then I positioned the patient—and when I moved, I forgot about where the tube was. I hit my head on it. It hurt quite a bit, but I wasn’t injured. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. I didn’t say anything and sure enough another tech did the same thing....After my colleague was injured, I spoke out at my department meeting. Now we position the patient first, and we don’t move the tube until we are ready to take the picture.

Several years ago, many nurses in the region were facing layoff or redeployment due to a primary care redesign. We were forced to leave our work teams, facilities, patients and friends that many of us had worked with for years. It was tough. Devastating, really, for many of us. We had to get past that to move forward. We had to figure out our purpose and how to best take care of our patients and each other. I’m the UBT labor co-lead for Primary Care Virtual Support....The people I work with don’t just show up, we’re professionals and we’re engaged.

I have a small team with only four nurses. We needed the department's medical assistants and licensed practical nurses to work with us. We needed them to make our whole team better. They’re not in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, but they have a voice, and we’re still a team. We invited them to participate in the UBT and come up with our first project, which focused on wasted supplies. We saved $9,000. Their knowledge and engagement made this project a success