DEMANDING CHANGE: Port Charlotte nurses rally for safer work environment

March 18, 2025

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Two nurses say a patient injured them HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte. Nurses rallied Tuesday morning for safer working conditions.

Nurses in the National United Nurses Union demanded work place violence prevention plans, hands on de-escalation training and policies to reduce work place violence at HCA Florida Fawcett hospital.

Last Tuesday, nurses say a patient kicked a nurse in the back and side.

Another nurse claims the same patient put them in a headlock and choked them.

Watch Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades report below on the rally:

DEMANDING CHANGE: Port Charlotte nurses rally for safer work environment

Last month, a patient attacked an HCA nurse at their hopsital in West Palm.

When FOX 4 asked HCA about what happened in Port Charlotte, they didn’t explicitly say how the nurses were injured.

In a statement they call the incident a safety concern:

“HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital is committed to providing a safe and secure healing environment for our patients, colleagues, physicians and visitors. We are continuously focused on improving our policies, processes and protocol…We are very proud of the care we provide to our community and want to thank our colleagues for their immediate and appropriate response to a safety concern last week. In light of this, we are reassessing our safety policies”
Debra McKell, HCA Florida

Valerie Jean a nurse at HCA Fawcett read a statement from one of the injured nurses qho didnt come to the rally because she’s recovering.

Jean read, “I feel like HCA failed me, my coworkers and our patients. HCA did not have a plan to provide the care this patient needed. There were signs for hours that he was agitated.”

The nurses say they’ve been wanting their safety concerns addressed for years at HCA Florida Fawcett hospital.