Tensions eased in Boston’s Longwood medical area Sunday after Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the union representing 3,300 of its nurses reached a tentative contract agreement.
“We’re relieved,” said Brigham registered nurse Maribeth Coolbrith, an intravenous therapy specialist. “Nobody wanted to go on strike. We would have done it . . . but we didn’t want to. We’re glad it was resolved and that there was no disruption in care. It would have been a real black mark on the reputation of the hospital.”
Coolbrith was one of nearly a dozen nurses, patients, family members, and doctors interviewed outside the Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital who said they were breathing easier after the settlement. The Brigham had been ready to bring in replacement workers in the event of a strike.
After 23 negotiating sessions dating back to last September, the hospital’s parent company Partners HealthCare and the Massachusetts Nurses Association ended the contentious contract dispute shortly after midnight Sunday. Should the nurse’s union vote to approve the new contract, nurses will see pay raises and stronger staffing policies.
Rose Ake, a nurse at the Brigham for 17 years, said the deal came just in time.
“Of course I’m happy. I was worried about what they had to go through,” Ake said of her patients. “Brigham has always had a reputation for excellence, and I don’t think any of them would have been happy to see new nurses.”
Dick Pearson of Pembroke, N.H., said he was happy that his brother, who is receiving cancer treatment at the Brigham, will be able to keep the same caregivers.
“We didn’t think the replacement workers would be as skilled as the nurses that are here now,” Pearson said.
Retired construction worker Michael Brooks, 51, was admitted to the Brigham on Wednesday for open heart surgery. His procedure went off without a hitch, Brooks said, and he was leaving the hospital with his sister, Michelle, Sunday afternoon.
Brooks said he heard mutterings of a nurses’ strike during his time at the Brigham, but he said the nurses “made light of it,” trying hard to prevent the discord from trickling down to patients.
The tentative pact is “good for all the patients that are in there,” Brooks said, pointing to the hospital entrance behind him. “The nurses do a wonderful job, and they didn’t get enough credit for what they do.”
Brooks said the nurses appeared “a lot happier” Sunday after the tentative agreement was reached. Their priority, he stressed, was always the patients in their care.
“It upset a lot of people,” he said. “It upset a lot of patients, but at the end of the day, for these nurses, it was always about the patients.”
Dr. Amy Bessnow, a cancer physician working at the Brigham, said she is “thrilled” the strike was averted and the hospital preserved the relationship with its nurses.
Doctors there are preparing themselves for a busy week, Bessnow said. They’ll have to reincorporate hundreds of patients that were moved to other hospitals before the would-be strike.
“We’ve always had a great relationship with the nurses,” she said. “I’m glad there doesn’t have to be the acrimony of a strike and that patient care will continue uninterrupted.”
Amanda Burke can be reached at amanda.burke@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @charlie_acb.