Nurses on strike leave picket line to help victims of Michigan church shooting and fire

By Eric Levenson, CNN

Grand Blanc Township, Michigan (CNN) — Eva Kerzka just wanted to help.

For going on five weeks, she and about 700 other nurses employed by the Henry Ford Genesys Hospital had been on strike amid negotiations on a new labor contract. Rather than take care of patients in the hospital, the nurses gathered daily on the grassy shoulder of Holly Road, waving protest signs and chanting.

But on Sunday, Kerzka saw police cars and ambulances flying past her spot on the picket line and later noticed black smoke rising toward the sky from a church about a mile away. She and other nurses saw online there had been a mass casualty event – what they termed a “Code Black” back in the hospital.

They had trained for just such a moment, but the ongoing strike limited their ability to help.

“What do I do?” Kerzka wondered to herself, she told CNN on Tuesday. “I can’t just stand here.”

With permission from the president of the Teamsters Local 332 union, she and some other nurses left the picket line and raced to the hospital, to the church and to a nearby triage center to offer whatever help they could. That help came in the form of their trained hands as well as in calming conversation with victims, escorting people to safety, supportive hugs and deliveries of food and water.

Kerzka was one of a handful of nurses who spoke to CNN about their decision to leave the picket line and offer their help in the wake of the mass shooting and arson at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc. They described their need to help as deeply ingrained in their own identity.

“This is what I was born for,” Kerzka said.

Their time helping at the hospital, however, was short-lived. After about 10 or 20 minutes, they were directed to leave the premises given the ongoing labor dispute, several nurses told CNN on Tuesday.

Hospital officials explained their position in a statement, saying they had hired replacement workers during the labor dispute and were appropriately staffed during the mass shooting.

“Henry Ford Genesys Hospital is fully staffed with experienced caregivers and able to care for all our patients, including those injured in the shooting and fire at the nearby church,” the hospital said. “Because of the indefinite strike, we’d already made alternative staffing arrangements. Henry Ford Genesys Hospital was appropriately staffed Sunday and team members were able to care for the patients from the church tragedy without additional help.”

Further, the hospital said the striking team members did not have access to their systems and said bringing too many people into the hospital could endanger or compromise care.

The hospital asked that the tragic attack not be used as a “bargaining tool” in their negotiations, which remain ongoing.

The Teamsters union representing the nurses issued a statement praising them for jumping in to help.

“In the face of this heartbreak, we witnessed a powerful moment of humanity. Our nurses, without hesitation, put down their picket signs and ran to help,” the union said. “Their courage and selflessness in the most harrowing of times speak volumes about who they are — not just as professionals, but as people. This is what it means to strike for your community. Their actions remind us all of the true spirit of service and solidarity.”

Providing care, water and hugs

Kerzka was one of the nurses who went to the hospital and was allowed to enter her old stomping grounds to help for a bit. She said the place looked like a “war zone” amid the emergency efforts. She got to work prepping rooms for patients, on her hands and knees scrubbing the ground of blood, she said.

After hospital management asked them to leave, she hopped into a car and raced to the church to offer a hand.

There, she checked on people who were on the ground outside the church and offered a hug, a comforting word, or help with minor cuts as needed. She and other nurses also helped escort surviving church members to a nearby triage center and offered water to the police and firefighters on scene.

Kerzka said she was disappointed she couldn’t do more but was still grateful she was able to help.

“This is what we trained to do,” she said. “I’m grateful I got to help somebody.”

Holly Neadow, who has worked as a nurse at Genesys hospital for 18 years, said she and other nurses initially felt “hopeless” that they were unable to help care for patients at the hospital due to the strike.

“All of us were absolutely heartbroken because that’s what we do. We help people,” she said.

Soon, first responders said their help was needed at the church site. Neadow said she and other nurses brought cases of water and aided with the scene: Escorting people to buses and ambulances and offering a sympathetic ear to people’s horrific stories of what had happened.

“At least 20 nurses were down there helping,” she said. “We were just doing what we could.”

Others joined in. Claudine Fahy, a nurse who has worked in Grand Blanc for 25 years, said she was at the picket line Sunday when she got the message of all hands on deck. Her nursing instincts kicked in, she said, so she took water bottles from their picket line to first responders on scene.

Michael Thill and Elise Vinson, two nurses who were on the picket line Sunday, expressed their difficulty squaring their desire to help during the attack with their inability to work in the hospital amid the strike.

“There were so many of us that just felt helpless, like our heart had been ripped out and torn in half,” Thill said. “Having been trained to do that and not being able to do it, it’s difficult.”

“It’s a hard dichotomy right now because we want to support our people in there, but we can’t be in there,” Vinson said.

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