Buncombe County’s state senator on Friday called out what she described as “chronic understaffing” at Mission Health, which some believe contributed to a patient’s death in the ER earlier this month.
N.C. Sen. Julie Mayfield joined current Mission Health employees, clergy, and public safety officials in a press conference held at the Buncombe County Administration building. The group called on HCA Healthcare – which owns Mission Health Hospital in Asheville – to increase staffing and transparency.
Mayfield recalled just over a year ago sounding similar concerns.
“ In 2024, federal regulators placed Mission Hospital in immediate jeopardy based on nine cases including four deaths at that time,” Mayfield, a Democrat, said. “Our coalition said out loud what many of us already knew: That HCA was running Mission Hospital in an unsafe manner.”
Mayfield added that in addition to the February death at Mission, there was one other death - which she asserts was preventable - about five weeks ago.
“We will continue to share what we know with state and federal regulators,” Mayfield said. “We are calling on those regulators to come inspect and investigate. We need answers from HCA about the connection between these patient deaths and staffing and how they are going to prevent this from happening in the future.”
Asheville Watchdog investigation into death
This comes nearly three weeks after a patient waiting for treatment at Mission Hospital’s emergency room died in a bathroom. As first reported last week by the Asheville Watchdog, a man arrived at the ER on Feb. 10 via ambulance but couldn’t be admitted for treatment right away because – as anonymous medical staffers told the Watchdog – the ER was understaffed and no rooms were available. Watchdog, which confirmed some details of what staffers say happened with Mission officials, reported the patient who died was at the ER with possible chest pain.
A Mission spokesperson told Watchdog the hospital is investigating the incident and has already fired one member of staff over it.
“The sudden death of a patient is devastating, and we grieve whenever there is a loss of life,” the spokesperson quoted by Watchdog said. “We realize there are many questions that need to be answered, and we are examining every aspect of this incident. Our investigation indicates that certain staff who had been trained did not follow hospital protocols. We have terminated one individual and have reported to the appropriate agencies. We are working diligently to address any additional issues that are identified during the course of our investigation.”
Witnesses told Watchdog the man was in a restroom in the ER lobby when he had a medical emergency. Although he pulled the red emergency alert cord, he died – which was around 12 to 15 minutes, according to Watchdog’s reporting.
Mayfield blames 'chronic understaffing'
Friday’s press conference was organized by Reclaim HealthCare WNC, a grassroots coalition of physicians, nurses, elected officials, clergy, attorneys and business leaders committed to supporting staff at Mission and holding HCA accountable.
Joining Mayfield at the podium were Mission nurses Molly Zenker and Ashley Bunting.
Bunting, who works in the emergency department at Mission Health, alleged the hospital is severely understaffed.
“It could kill and unfortunately we start nearly every shift short on nurses,” Bunting said. “In fact, we have had as few as nine nurses running the entire 100-bed ER.”
She added that hasn’t always been the case. Last year when HCA health care was on the verge of losing Medicare and Medicaid funding, there was temporary improvement, she claims.
“ We got the travelers, the incentive pay, and the ancillary staff nurses got a lunch break for the first time since HCA took over,” Bunting explained. “We saw every area of our ER open and fully staffed. Our waiting room was virtually empty, and patients got beds upstairs quickly. We began to feel hopeful.”
Zenker said there are around 1,500 nurses on staff – which she says is about 75% of what would be “fully staffed.”
A local volunteer fire department chief says the staffing issue results in long wait times for paramedics who are transporting patients to the ER.
“ Our times in December, 18 minutes for handoff,” Chief Tom Kelly of the Riceville Volunteer Fire Department said. “The average in January got to 25 to 30 minutes, and we had two calls in February that were right at one hour to hand off a patient.”
Kelly, who is also a paramedic, said some patients are begging ambulance crews not to take them to Mission.
“ When they beg us to go somewhere else, we have to explain to them, this is in your best interest to go to this level two trauma center, the only level two trauma center in Western North Carolina,” Kelly said.
Mayfield also expressed frustration with Mission’s decline considering how they brought hundreds of nurses and doctors to support local staff during Helene.
She ended the press conference by saying they will not quiet their voices until Mission Hospital provides world-class health care and restores confidence between them and the community.
“ HCA’s chronic understaffing must end,” Mayfield said. “If HCA is unwilling to put the health and safety of our community first, then it's time to find a hospital system that will.”
