Nurses at the Starr County Memorial Hospital have some answers regarding a new overtime policy.

On Wednesday, the hospital board announced plans to hire outside consultants to review the new policy, and help them make schedules.

“We value our employees, and we want to continue working together as a team,” Starr County Memorial Hospital Board President Dr. Adrian Guerra said during the board meeting. “It is gonna take time, but we wanna come back with a good proposal that is beneficial for all employees, and it is beneficial to the hospital district."

In March 2024, the hospital cut scheduled overtime for staff. The new rule came with examples for department heads to follow when making the schedules. 

One example included an eight-hour day, and two 16-hour days over the course of a week. 

“We became nurses to heal, to help, to serve — but we cannot continue to do that while running on empty.” Starr County Memorial Hospital nurse Paola Arrambide said.

The items on Wednesday’s agenda to discuss the concerns were scheduled for open session, but the board decided to take them up behind closed doors. 

This is completely legal, but a nurse who wished to not be identified told Channel 5 News it was upsetting.

“It's a little disconcerting since they went into closed session, I thought this would be a little more transparent,” the nurse said.

The nurse said they recently worked a six-day work week with longer hours during a shift. There was no overtime compensation because it was during a separate pay period.

“It's exhausting,” the nurse said. “… We love serving our community, but we want to give them good care."

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