Strikes not part of Bethel plan
Recent Bethel nursing graduate and newlywed affected by strikes.
By Annalise Beeson | Royal Report
August 6, 2016, marked three years of dating for Tony and Marly Droogsma. It also marked their new anniversary to celebrate together, their wedding date. Lavender accents, worship songs during the ceremony and being surrounded by family and friends were all part of the start of the couple’s marriage.
Tony and Marly Droogsma met in middle school youth group. They officially began dating a couple years later. Tony, an applied physics major, was a sophomore at Bethel when he proposed to Marly, a senior nursing student, in 2015.
Marly remembers the night of the engagement and the prayer Tony said nervously at dinner, “Just let today be a great day. Amen.” They went for a walk through a cemetery on that hot and sticky night when Marly asked if they could go back. Tony said no and shortly after pulled out the ring.
The couple planned their wedding for the coming August, the summer after Marly would graduate from Bethel.
Marly graduated in May with a job at an Allina hospital in the Twin Cities and passed her exams, officially making her an RN (registered nurse). Excited for her job, her wedding and her future, Marly started her first day of work July 11.
Shortly after the wedding and just six weeks into her job, nurses in the Minnesota Nurses Association at Allina Health hospitals went on their second strike of the summer. This time, the strike went on indefinitely.
This strike started because the nurses and the hospital disagreed with their differing opinions on health care insurance and coverage the hospital should offer to their employees. More than 4,000 Allina Health nurses walked out with the strike, causing Allina to find 1,500 replacement nurses. The hospitals continued to operate as best as they could without the nurses during the strike period, but some floors and parts of the hospital were closed or could only handle fewer patients then before the strike. Marly understood the importance of the nurses’ side and went on strike to stand in solidarity with them.
Bethel’s nursing department, home of the largest declared major for the school’s incoming class this year, also felt the effects of the strike. 70 percent of OB clinical sites for this semester were at Allina locations, according to nursing professor Julie De Haan, and finding replacement locations was hard. Several schools in the state didn’t find clinical sites, but Bethel had an easier time due to their connections and a good reputation among hospitals in the Twin Cities.
Even with replacement locations, De Haan and other professors also developed a program simulation at the Bethel Anderson Center to further help their students. They even used alumni who were also on strike, as patients. The professors reported it went well and they plan to do it every year for juniors in the program.
“Out of adversity comes good learning,” De Haan said.
The department’s faculty strived to turn the strike into a learning experience for their students. Seniors discussed the strike in an ethics class and the situation taught the skills of flexibility and adaptability they would need as nurses someday.
“I had to trust that’s where God wanted me to be even though it seemed like a messy place to me. When I moved money from savings into checking for rent, that’s when I realized this could go on forever.”–Marly Droogsma
As newlyweds, Marly and Tony didn’t buy anything for their apartment during this time. Financially the couple was secure since they saved in previous years. For Tony, the hardest part was balancing his time between Marly, as she was at home, and doing his homework.
“I would much rather be with her than do my homework,” Tony said.
Marly nannied, cleaned houses and worked at the Ryder Cup during the strike. She also applied to a few hospitals and schools, but nothing worked out.
“I had to trust that’s where God wanted me to be even though it seemed like a messy place to me. When I moved money from savings into checking for rent, that’s when I realized this could go on forever,” Marly said.
De Haan is also Marly’s mother. She found herself encouraging Marly during this period of waiting.
“I reminded her that God is sovereign. As the Lord’s Prayer says, we only need our daily bread everyday. He already put everything in place for us, we just need to build trust in Him,” De Haan said.
The strike ended Oct. 13 and Marly returned to work with her fellow nurses. The environment at work wasn’t too different, except for being behind with a computer system change.
“We don’t talk about [the strike] at work and if we do, it’s in the break room. Everyone is just thankful to be back helping our patients,” said Marly.
