San Bernardino County nurses told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that they’re concerned about chronic understaffing at the county’s Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

Several nurses from the California Nurses Association called on the board to meet the group’s bargaining demands to improve nurse retention and health care outcomes. More than 50 nurses from the group also attended the meeting to show support.

Board members did not respond during the session.

County spokesperson David Wert on Wednesday declined to comment on the negotiations. Justine Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center could not be reached for comment.

The union has been negotiating a new contract that asks the county to invest in nursing retention and recruitment since April. The current contract with the county expires in October.

The group said chronic understaffing at Arrowhead, which is in Colton, leads to safety concerns for the patients because a high nurse-to-patient ratio can cause some patients’ needs to be overlooked.

While the nurse-to-patient ratio varies depending on the hospital unit, for intensive care the ratio can be one nurse to two patients, while in other units there may be one nurse for every six patients, according to Leslie Oyes, a nurse in the Arrowhead burn unit and a member of the union bargaining team.

The ideal nurse-to-patient ratio would 1-to-1 or 1-to-2, she said.

“It makes it hard for the nurses because they want to give the best care that they can,” she said. “But with short staffing, they’re just trying to keep their heads above water.”

Chronic understaffing at Arrowhead has caused many nurses to leave because of stress, Oyes added.

There are more than 300 open nursing positions at Arrowhead, which staffs 1,000 nurses, according to the union.

“Nurses leave because they cannot continue to work (under) these conditions,” Oyes said. “It’s not safe for nurses or our patients, period.”

This is especially true for new nurses just starting out, she said.

“At county hospitals, you see some heavy things, things that you won’t see at other facilities,” Oyes said. “But not a lot of hospitals hire new nurses, so they’ll come in here, get trained for a year, and once they’re ready to be on their own, they take off to another hospital.”

Oyes said the “revolving door” is “disheartening” because “you get excited to work with the new nurses you train … and I want them to be happy, but I also would love for them to stay with the county and increase (our staff) too.”

While the county has been responsive in negotiations, Oyes said, there are still 20 bargaining items to which the county has yet to respond.

The union represents 1,500 nurses in San Bernardino County and more than 100,000 nurses statewide.