GREENFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - If you’re a patient at Baystate Franklin after 6 p.m. this Thursday, there is no one left for wheel you to your x-ray. Layoffs have gutted patient transport — one of 22 departments hit by cuts at the hospital.

Marissa Potter is a veteran nurse at Baystate Franklin. She says these layoffs aren’t just hitting behind-the-scenes staff. They are directly impacting how quickly you get help.

Layoffs are hitting 22 different departments at Baystate Franklin — including it, facilities, and patient transport. As of Wednesday, there is no one left to transport patients after 6 p.m. that means nurses — already stretched thin — now have to leave their own patients to wheel others to imagine or the lab. While Baystate points to financial challenges, nurses are pointing to what they call million-dollar executive salaries and a system they say is in a “downward spiral,” “Well, as of yesterday, I would imagine that the already overburdened nurses are going to do that now [patient transport],” Potter said.

It’s not just Greenfield. We received a tip — not yet independently verified — that at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, staff were reportedly pulled off shuttle buses to be fired. That same unverified tip claims ICU ratios have jumped to one nurse for every four patients, and some medical-surgical nurses are juggling up to eight patients at once. Potter says the pattern of cutting low-wage support staff is a system-wide crisis.

“Long-term, dedicated employees were definitely escorted out of Baystate Franklin by security yesterday. So, the piece about finding people on the shuttle buses — that tracks. I imagine that that is true. And then, the second piece about patient ratios. So, one of the reasons that we are fighting so hard for a fair contract still in Greenfield after nine-plus months of negotiations is that we are holding Baystate accountable for the needs of our community and the people who provide that care,” Potter said.

Nurses at Baystate Franklin voted 98 percent to reject their latest contract offer earlier this month. They say they are the lowest-paid nurses in the region — and they are demanding safe staffing levels be written into their contracts, so the hospital cannot cut these support roles on a whim. Because nurses say those cuts don’t stay behind hospital walls — they follow you into the waiting room.

If someone heads to the ER, what should they expect?

Marissa was clear — she wants patients to know nurses still have your back. But she warned wait times will likely go up. If there’s no one to move a patient from the er up to a hospital bed, that bed stays empty longer — and the person in the waiting room stays in that chair longer. It’s a domino effect that starts with these layoffs.

Baystate Health has not responded to our request for comment. We will keep pushing.

Tonight at 6 — we’re digging into similar cuts at Baystate Noble in Westfield.

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