LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Wilcox Hospital and its nurses' union held a final, unsuccessful negotiating session yesterday, and no further sessions are planned before a Hawai'i Nurses Association strike scheduled to start at 7 a.m. June 24.

Wilcox Health System chief medical officer Ken Pierce said the facility will remain fully open if a strike occurs. The hospital's 140 full-time, part-time and on-call nurses would be replaced by 50 to 60 nurses brought in from the Mainland, who would work 12-hour shifts.

"Our goal is to provide the same uninterrupted service we normally do," Pierce said.

A federal mediator called yesterday's bargaining session. Negotiations had been under way since April 28.

"We ... remain committed to doing everything we can to avert the need to carry out this strike," said nurses negotiating team representative D.Q. Jackson. "We remain ready and available to talk at any time."