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Portage nurses to rally for competitive wages

HANCOCK, MI— Nurses with UPHS-Portage are holding a rally at the Portage Lake Lift Bridge Thursday afternoon.

They’ll be calling for administrators to negotiate a competitive wage so the hospital can recruit and retain nurses.

RN Leanna Pennala says they’re rallying to make sure their voices are heard.

“Our staffing levels have been getting stretched thinner and thinner. We have such larger volumes of patient care load. We have discussed (this) with them in our negotiations, and we feel they aren’t listening to us in regards to our wages,” she says.

Pennala says UPHS owner Apollo has a net worth of $4.8 billion. She wants hospital officials to listen to nurses and invest in the community.

The rally starts Thursday around 4:30 p.m. at the lift bridge.

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.