Nurses belonging to the Minnesota Nurses Association at Mayo hospitals in Austin and Albert Lea on Thursday ratified a plan for dealing with the effects of Mayo’s decision to reorganize patient care at both hospitals and close most inpatient services in Albert Lea, according to a press release from the MNA, a union representing the nurses.

Following several days of negotiations, a majority of nurses from both hospitals voted to accept Mayo’s offer to address issues including patient care training for nurses who move to a new unit, seniority, retention, and severance for nurses whose jobs are affected by the decision.

“We now have a process that Mayo must follow when units are closed and nurses are forced to change jobs,” said MNA Austin Chairwoman Kathryn Martin.

But Mayo officials on Friday said “We will continue to move forward with staffing plans for the future on both campuses with the best interest of our employees and patients in mind.”

“Nurses hope to minimize the impact on patients and the care they receive when any changes are imposed,” said MNA Albert Lea Chairwoman Kathy Lehman. “We continue to work with the Save Our Hospital (of Albert Lea) group to fight Mayo’s plan to devastate communities in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa that will no longer have a full-service hospital in Albert Lea.

“Nurses needed to have some assurances from Mayo on how changes in their jobs will be handled.”

Mayo’s full response to the MNA announcement said:

“The Minnesota Nurses Association yesterday voted to approve our proposal regarding the process for nurse staffing to support the transition of nursing on inpatient (hospital) services between our Albert Lea and Austin campuses. As we have shared with the union and our staff, our goal has always been to make these transitions as smooth as possible.

“We will continue to move forward with staffing plans for the future on both campuses with the best interest of our employees and patients in mind. Our focus is on preserving the health care services that our patients use most often in their local communities, while making the best use of our resources to deliver hospital services in a way that keeps care viable and as close to home as possible.”