(STURGIS) – Registered nurses at Sturgis Hospital are urging Hospital administrators to delay the newly announced plans for reorganization.

In a release issued through the Michigan Nurses Association, Kelli Glick and Oncology Clinic RN and President of the Sturgis Hospital Registered Nurses Council, says people's lives are at stake with these cuts that will remove essential services from our community.

Glick says there are many questions the Hospital Board and Administration should have to answer. Such as, how can it possibly be necessary to rush into this extreme plan? What alternatives were considered and why aren't they being pursued?

She says the lack of transparency and respect for our community is simply appalling.

Glick says the nurses expressed frustration about the ongoing lack of information from Administration and the disregard for the community's needs. Nurses are also urging a closer look at how the Hospital ended up in such poor financial condition.

Katina Currier, a Registered Nurse in the Birth Center says the nurses are stunned by this suddenly announced plan and how much it will harm the patients and the community. She says they are used to hospital Administrators not sharing information and not asking for input from the staff, but rushing into these drastic cuts is just plain reckless.

Currier says this is our hospital and our community and we all deserve better.