HOUGHTON – Amid Aspirus’ plans to expand its Keweenaw hospital in Laurium, nurses who work there will rally Tuesday to call on the corporation to invest in safe nurse staffing – not just fancy buildings.

Acording to a press release from the Michigan Nurses Association, Aspirus recently made nurse staffing changes at the Laurium hospital despite nurses’ raising concerns about the impact on their ability to provide safe, quality care. Nurses are calling on Aspirus to rescind those changes and invest in recruiting and retaining enough nurses to serve the community.

“We want our U.P. community to know that nurses are looking out for them and Aspirus is putting us in an impossible position as far as being able to provide the best care possible,” said Melissa Helppi, MSN, RN, who works at Aspirus Keweenaw and is president of the local bargaining unit of the Michigan Nurses Association there. “While improvements to the hospital are nice, what good is a hospital if there aren’t enough nurses to take care of the patients? This is a problem Aspirus can fix, if executives get their priorities in line.”

According to the press release, the staffing changes at Keweenaw are the latest disturbing news for the U.P. from Aspirus, which is based in Wisconsin. After saying they would invest millions in the Ontonagon hospital, Aspirus closed it last year. And in December, Aspirus closed down labor and delivery services at Keweenaw.

The rally will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the pedestrian walkway on the Portage Lift Bridge.