SEATTLE — A three-day strike by nurses and caregivers at Swedish Medical Centers ended Friday morning.
Swedish Hospital emergency rooms in Redmond and Ballard reopened Friday at 8 a.m. Ballard Labor and Delivery reopened at 9 a.m. Friday, and all remaining units that were consolidated or moved during the strike will reopen on Sunday.
All of the estimated 7,800 nurses and other staff are expected to be back on the job by Sunday.
On Friday evening, Swedish announced that 2,000 union caregivers were allowed back on the job. The other positions are being filled by contract workers from around the country who were promised five days of work.
Swedish said in a statement on Friday: "Despite what the union says, we are not engaged in an unlawful lockout. Swedish contracted with our vendors for a five-day replacement period, which was communicated to SEIU before the union delivered its strike notice on January 17."
Hospital administrators declared operations at Swedish Medical Centers were running "remarkably well" since a massive nurse's strike began Tuesday morning.
Some visitors to the main campus in Seattle, however, expressed concerns about staffing levels and access to patients.
Badatu Ida and her sister Ibsitu visited a close family friend at Swedish Thursday, who has been in the hospital for days with serious breathing issues.
They said no nurses checked on their friend until his blood pressure dropped and a monitor went off.
Even then, they said they had to flag someone down.
"It seemed so empty. It was an hour and half since we came in there and I hadn't seen a nurse that checked on him to see how he's doing," said Badatu. "I had to get their attention to come check on him. I'm sure there are thousands of patients in there waiting for the same nurse to come by."
Hospital administrators said nurses operate on different rounds where patients are checked on at different times throughout the day. They stressed that there have been zero "harm events" involving patients during the strike.
Nursing assistant Rehema Mohamed has worked at Swedish for nearly 20 years.
Over the past few years, her daughter has been treated at the hospital for a genetic blood disorder. On Wednesday as her fellow workers walked the picket line, she stopped in to visit her daughter.
Mohamed said she was shocked when she was identified as a union member, stopped by security and forced to wait nearly 45 minutes before being escorted to her daughter's bedside.
"I felt so bad," she said. "If it was their own family members do you think they would let them go in? I'm standing up for my rights!"
Swedish Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elizabeth Wako said delaying any family member access to a patient is "inappropriate" and that the hospital would look into the matter.
Swedish released a statement Thursday saying in part, "We are grateful to our physicians for their leadership in ensuring a safe transition of patient care...Thank you also to the nearly 1,100 represented caregivers who reported to work during the strike. In addition, we are deeply appreciative of the other hospitals and our partners in the Seattle area for their support in caring for our patients during this time."
The walkout is expected to cost Swedish at least $11 million.