NEWARK, Delaware (WPVI) — ChristianaCare physicians in Delaware have filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union.

Doctors say in recent years, issues such as burnout, being understaffed, recruitment, and retention have gone unaddressed by the administration.

Now, they felt they had no other choice.

“I think our hands were forced to do this. All of the physicians are reaching a breaking point,” said ChristianaCare Dr. Ragu Sanjeev, one of the leaders of the effort.

Doctors also say “compensation redesign” by the hospital would take away doctors’ paid time off, which they say is essential to preventing burnout.

Under this plan, vacation and other time off would not be compensated.

“That’s what really frustrated us and that’s what broke the camel’s back so to speak,” said Dr. Gennadiy Ryklin with a ChristianaCare.

However, doctors say their goal is better patient care and outcomes, which they believe are being negatively affected by current conditions.

“It always starts in the emergency room and right now, the one thing that we see is patients can’t even get an emergency room bed. We’re practicing hallway medicine,” said Dr. Ryklin.

Among roughly 400 eligible doctors in the system, leaders say there’s about 70% in support to unionize.

Doctors say they want patients’ needs prioritized, more input in decision-making, better benefits, and less corporate influence.

They say there’s been a shift to more doctors employed by hospitals as opposed to working in private practice or being self-employed.

“Corporatization of medicine has expanded its claws over us, how we practice medicine, how we take care of patients,” said Dr. Sanjeev.

“I personally have felt in my five years as an attending physician, and my colleagues that have been in it for decades, they’ve seen that their voice has been lost with the corporatization of medicine, of private equity firms coming in and buying hospitals,” echoed Dr. Ryklin.

In response to doctors’ concerns and efforts to unionize, ChristianaCare issued the following statement to Action News:

“At ChristianaCare, we are proud of our physicians, who deliver world-class care while serving our patients and our community with love and excellence. We believe that continuing to have a direct relationship with physicians is an essential component of our continued shared success. We have received the petition from Doctors Council SEIU Local 10 MD and recognize the right of all employees to vote on whether or not they want a union to represent them.”

Doctors say they want to work with their employers to improve their workplace and care for patients.

“In no way is this adversarial. We want to work together with our employer to enact positive change,” said Dr. Ryklin.

If efforts to unionize are successful, physicians at ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital in Newark, the Wilmington Hospital, and Middletown ER would all be covered.

Unions among physicians aren’t very common, but given conditions at hospitals across the country post-pandemic, it has happened in other places and could be a growing trend, according to Dr. Sanjeev.

“The trend has started primarily due to us being asked to do more and more with less and less of everything, including time and energy. The situation that exists currently does not let us practice medicine the way we want to, which is the right way,” Dr. Sanjeev said.

The National Labor Relations Board confirms it has received the doctors’ petition. Doctors at ChristianaCare hope to have a vote in six to eight weeks.

1. AT Days 9-16  Duncannon, PA to Port Clinton, PA
   

Day 9-11 – Downtime (0 miles)

Day 12 – Duncannon to Peter’s Mountain Shelter (9.3 miles)

Day 13 – Peter’s Mountain Shelter to Rausch Gap Shelter (18.0 miles)

Day 14 – Rausch Gap Shelter to 501 Shelter (17.5 miles)

Day 15 – 501 Shelter to Eagle’s Nest Shelter (14.9 miles)

Day 16 – Eagle’s Nest Shelter to Port Clinton (9.0 miles)

Harper’s Ferry Start – Marker 1026.    

Days 9-11 – Down days.

I had planned on one day off, but personal issues pushed it to 3. I could have started late on the last of these days, but as it was raining, 50sF, overnight in the low 40s, and the forecast for the next 5 days was rain off and on well…

Day 12

It stopped raining! Let’s go! The trail starts at the Susquehanna River and goes straight up to the top of the ridge (~1,200 ft in 2 miles). If you find Duncannon on a map with contours, you can see this is the same ridge that hits Duncannon on the west side except that the river cut through it. It also has the same rocks. I lost a sitting pad somewhere in those rocks.

I was so full of energy from the days off that I wanted to go further. Except thunderstorms were forecast for the evening and overnight. 

The Shelter was full and  on the bottom level, so I headed to the 2nd (Yes, this Shelter had 2 levels). I had my pick of spots and chose poorly. I was on the windward side. The rain didn’t come in on me, but the cold air blew in that window and straight down onto me. I barely kept warm enough.

Yes, that’s the trail!

 

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Day 13

The next morning was cold and rainy. I trudged 18 miles all day in the rain. Got to the Shelter about 5:00 pm. There were already two guys there in their sleeping bags and ready to sleep. I, and two more guys cooked our meals and went to sleep as well about 7:30. The two guys that were already in the sack slept straight through until 5:30 in the morning. Then they made a lot of noise when they got up and took off by 6:00.

Day 14

The day was nicer and the 17.5 miles went faster. Except for the Damned rocks. I can make pretty good time until I hit the rocks. Then it’s down to 1/2 to 1 mph.

The Green Tunnel

Bridge near I-81

The shelter was a dream. I shared it with only two other people. It was completely enclosed with about 18 bunks. A nice table in the middle for cooking, a spigot for water, a garbage can, and a hose for a shower. The shower was COLD, but felt good anyway. I dries my stuff out. Hooray!

My stuff 

Cooking Dinner 

Day 15

Not so far today, and good weather, which was a godsend. 

I made it to the shelter about 15 minutes before it started raining. One other young lady from last night’s shelter arrived about the same time that I did. It poured all night.

Day 16

It finally stopped raining about 9:00am. I pulled a calf muscle and jammed my toe slipping on the rocks. I hate the rocks to begin with. I’m lucky if I can do 1/2 to 1 mph. When they’re wet, they’re really treacherous and I have to go even slower. But obviously I didn’t go slow enough. So I opted to stay in Port Clinton after only 9 miles. There is a pavilion provided by a church. It’s loud, but I can rest my foot and leg.

This used to be the frontier

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Two bills being heard in Delaware are aimed to be solutions in the fight against anti-Asian rhetoric, violence, and hate. The legislation was inspired by a dad and a college student, who are getting additional support from a very special kindergartener.

“I believe everyone in Delaware should learn about the vast cultures and traditions of Asian and Pacific Islander communities,” said Austin Lou.

Austin is a kindergartener with a grown-up voice advocating for legislation to support AAPIs.

“I’m here today to speak in favor of House bill 322,” he said. “I’m proud of my heritage, but sometimes I can feel invisible.”

Yunfei Lou is Austin’s dad. He grew up in Lewes, Delaware.

“I still kind of struggle with an identity crisis of who I am as a one and a half generation Asian American mom, a lot of the time, I still slip and say them Americans, even though I am an American through and through. I pay taxes, I vote,” said Yunfei.

Yunfei wants to instill a sense of belonging among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and increase education.

“We basically we want to kind of remove that veil, the mystique around being Asian and really give the community an opportunity to really learn about who we are,” he said.

Yunfei has partnered with Devin Jiang, who’s a junior at the University of Delaware studying public policy.

“COVID-19 was when I saw this community crumble for the first time and I realized that Asian Americans can’t be silent anymore,” said Devin.

Together Devin, Yunfei and little Austin are lobbying for AAPI inclusion in education and to establish a state AAPI commission in the form of two bills.

“The first step is to gain more political representation, making sure that we have a voice at the table,” said Devin.

“Once we have that commission established, we can then start having some brainstorming sessions on trying to get community feedback,” said Yunfei .

SB 297, the AAPI education bill, has already evolved to include programming for all racial, cultural, and ethnic groups.

“We want to be as inclusive as possible,” said Yunfei .

“This would mean more educational programs in schools and a stronger sense of belonging for Asian American students like me,” said Austin.

The education bill will be heard in committee on May 15. HB 322, which would establish the AAPI state commission, has passed the Delaware House and will also be heard in the Senate.