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Thursday afternoon might have been one of the better opportunities motorists could have had to suffer an injury while driving through the intersection of the Sterling Highway and the Kenai Spur Highway.

Dozens of Central Peninsula Hospital nurses, employees and supporters lined the "Y" from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in an informational rally.

On Dec. 31, the nurses' contract with CPH expired.

Months worth of negotiations between RNs and hospital management have failed to yield a new contract agreement, and on Jan. 22, negotiators on both sides reached an impasse, agreeing to call in a federal mediator.

Janet Hilleary, of Nikiski, is an intensive care unit nurse at CPH and the Alaska Nurses Association unit president. Hilleary said the picketers lined up Thursday were out to show the community what they stood for.

"We're letting the community know that we care, that there are more issues than what's been out in the paper," Hilleary said.

Hilleary said that while hospital administrators have responded to the situation citing fiscal concerns as the reason the two groups are unable to further the negotiations process, there's other concerns as well.

Chief among them are working conditions for the nurses.

"Its not just about money, it's about safe patients and staffing. It's about safe nursing care for patients, it's about working nurses overtime," Hilleary said. "We care for our community, we live here."

Tom Wilkinson, of Soldotna, is an operating room nurse at CPH, who participated in the rally.

Wilkinson said nurses are currently forced to work excessively long hours with few to no breaks, jeopardizing both their own health and potentially the well being of patients.

"I'm scared to death, I've driven home only to go, 'how did I get home,' after a long shift. I could have plowed into a busload of kids," he said.

Hilleary agreed, saying sometimes nurses don't even have time to use the restroom and must wait until their shift ends.

"I've worked all day without eating or going to the restroom," she said.

Nurses have also raised issue with CPH's wage proposal. The 12.4 percent wage increase CPH is willing to provide to nurses over the next three years will create inequities between nurses, according to Wilkinson.

"If a nurse were here at the end of that contract, and somebody else came in with the exact number of years, went to the same school and everything, they could actually get hired in at a higher rate than the nurse who was already here," Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson also pointed out that the cost of living has increased and he doesn't believe the nurses' request for an across the board wage increase of 7 percent per year is out of step with the economy.

"Were we asking for something that others weren't getting in this economy, no," Wilkinson said.

The nurses are frustrated and confused as to why the administration isn't willing to work further.

"Reasonable people can sit down and talk these things out and say 'yes there's fixes to them,'" Wilkinson said. "We haven't gotten that from the negotiations, they've stonewalled us every time we've sat down with them."

Wilkinson and Hilleary said they weren't sure how the arrival of a federal mediator would impact the negotiation process.

Hilleary said the nurses who rallied on Thursday were all doing so in their off hours, while the hospital remained fully staffed.

"These are all off time nurses," Hilleary said.

Not all the attendants at the rally were nurses or hospital employees.

Terry Hogan, of Kenai, doesn't work at the hospital, but has friends that do and wanted to come out and share his support.

"I think the hospital should negotiate honestly," Hogan said.

Bonnie Nichols, spokeswoman for CPH, said administrators had no comment.

"Mediation is set to take place on Mar. 17 and 18. Until that process is completed, (CPH Chief Executive Officer) Ryan Smith doesn't feel it's appropriate to make public comments," Nichols said.

Dante Petri can be reached at dante.petri@peninsulaclarion.com.