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MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Members of the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) and Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA) who work at PeaceHealth facilities will be available to answer media questions Thursday, Nov. 14 from 11 a.m. to noon at the OFNHP offices located at 1020 Harlow Rd. Springfield, Oregon 97477.

Media who are unable to attend in person, can schedule a time to talk with a healthcare workers via phone or video conference during the allotted time by contacting Kevin Mealy at Mealy@OregonRN.org or 765-760-2203 to confirm.

PeaceHealth Patients Report Long Waits, Less Time with Healthcare Providers a Year After Eugene Hospital Closure

Patients and Providers Offer Stories and Solutions to Local Healthcare Problems 

(EUGENE, Ore.) - A recent survey of PeaceHealth patients found a staggering 97% reported having a negative experience at a local PeaceHealth facility with an overwhelming majority reporting multiple issues ranging from long waits for emergency care to unexpected bills. 

The findings come nearly a year after PeaceHealth chose to close its University District hospital—leaving nearly 200,000 Eugene residents without a hospital or emergency room in Oregon’s 3rd largest city.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) and the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA) conducted the survey between Sept. 9 - 27, 2024. ONA and PNWHMA represent more than 1,500 frontline nurses, doctors, and advanced practice providers at local PeaceHealth hospitals, clinics, urgent cares and home care services. 

“Our nurses, providers and staff clearly voiced concerns to PeaceHealth about the negative impacts closing University District would have on our community and on PeaceHealth Riverbend. Unfortunately, everything we anticipated—and more—has come to pass,” said Chris Rompala, ONA board member and nurse at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Riverbend. 

Key Survey Findings:

• Patients report languishing in PeaceHealth Riverbend’s emergency room (ER). Seventy percent of survey participants reported experiencing long waits for emergency care, with several reporting wait times of 8 hours or more. Multiple patients reported they left the ER without being treated due to lengthy wait times.

In their own words

“Waited 8 hours in ER along with a full room. People puking and sick so over. Actually helped a few people while I was waiting. I took myself from the ER went to my urgent care. They took me back by ambulance my pancreas was ready to explode. Was in hospital for the days.”

“My mother waited 8 hours in the Riverbend ED. We talked to people in the waiting room who waited NINETEEN hours!” 

“Ridiculous wait times, like they hoped we'd just leave if we had to wait long enough.”

“Sent in for a ruptured carotid artery, no checks with a b/p of 210/140. Sat with sick pts. in ER … for 10.5 hours. I now refuse to go to Riverbend and always request transport to Portland.”

“13 hour wait in ED with 90 yo mom with increasing confusion and pain. Eventually diagnosed as burst appendix gone septic. This was two weeks after a 10 hour wait at the same location.“

“Went to PeaceHealth in an ambulance around 2:30. Was never sent by 20:30. Called a friend to take me home.”

“On two separate occasions I brought a friend into the ER, once for appendicitis and once for severe back pain. The wait times on both were over 8 hours before she was seen.”

"With the closure of University District, we are seeing a surge in the number of patients we treat at Riverbend’s Emergency Department,” said Rob Sabin, ONA member and ER nurse at PeaceHealth Riverbend. “This increase, combined with short staffing and closed beds throughout the hospital, is putting additional strain on our already overwhelmed Emergency Department. As a result, our community is facing longer wait times and providers are struggling to care for patients in the limited space we have."

“When I discharge patients from the hospital, many will ask me what they should do if they get sick again at home.  As soon as I start talking about reasons to come back to the ER, their faces fall and I can see the fear in their eyes. No one wants to endure another 8 or 9-hour wait in the lobby when they’re hurting, throwing up, or can’t breathe,” said Charlotte Yeomans, MD, PNWHMA President and Hospitalist at PeaceHealth RiverBend. “The wait times are traumatic. They are fundamentally changing how our patients feel about the care they receive in the hospital, even if the vast majority of that care has been excellent. Some patients even ask for extra tests to be run before discharge, ‘just to make sure’ they won’t need to come back again and feel trapped in another ER wait.”

• Local patients report they are struggling to access care at PeaceHealth facilities. A majority of participants reported it was difficult to schedule an appointment at PeaceHealth clinics or urgent cares. Several patients said they’ve had to schedule appointments with PeaceHealth more than 6 months in advance.

In their own words

“In the last few years, everytime I have been sick or ended up in the Emergency room it has been impossible to get an appointment with my regular Dr. They were booked out for months.”

"Very ill couldn't get an app with PCP for a month … Had to wait over 7 months to get into a sleep study for OSA because of the closing of the PH sleep clinic."

“Physician asks for a follow-up visit In 3 months but first appointment is 7 months away.”

“I can't wait 3 months for a UTI (appointment).”

• Half of PeaceHealth’s patients reported they do not receive enough time with healthcare providers. Multiple respondents said PeaceHealth’s facilities appear understaffed and staff seem rushed.

In their own words

“I've had the same PCP (primary care provider) for over 10 years. My visits with her used to be 30+ minutes. Now they're about 15 min. She always seems rushed and a lot of the questions she asks at the end seem scripted.”

“My primary care doctor is rushed and overbooked … My doctor 5 years ago had more time with me. It meant better support and my questions answered … Treat the employees better!”

“Old people take time to get their point across. The University District was always great with my grandparents so patient and kind. RiverBend feels very rushed and over busy and under staffed. Even if they had the staff they don’t have the space.”

• A third of patients reported long waits at PeaceHealth’s urgent care clinics, leading some to head to the emergency room or other clinics or to skip care entirely. 

In their own words

“It took me three tries to get into urgent care in Florence. They are ‘booked’ for the day by a few minutes after opening.”

“I waited 2 hours in urgent care to be seen. There was zero privacy in the very very full urgent care waiting room. I had to tell the receptionist that I had been exposed to an STI by my cheating partner. Everyone could hear. At least 30 people. It was embarrassing as hell … The waiting area was absolutely packed like sardines. People were coughing everywhere.”

“The treatment is always great once I can get in. It's the waiting in the ER or urgent cares for hours on end that is the problem.”

• PeaceHealth patients reported receiving high or unexpected medical bills, with a quarter of respondents saying PeaceHealth charged them top dollar for their services.

In their own words

“I can barely even afford care even with 'good insurance’ and the wait times are so long that I'd rather wait and hope for issues to pass because it's unlikely that I will get anything other than a hefty bill.”

“Sat for 5 hours to get a X-ray and 4 stitches in my hand. Also I had come in months before and wound up with a huge bill, and I know it’s gonna be huge again.”

Patients are pointing the finger at PeaceHealth Riverbend since University District closure. While patients shared experiences and concerns about multiple PeaceHealth facilities, an overwhelming majority of patients (71%) reported having a negative experience at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center RiverBend in Springfield. RiverBend has seen increased patients and strain since PeaceHealth executives chose to close University District hospital in Eugene last year. PeaceHealth executives also closed an urgent care clinic in Springfield last year, alongside the sleep clinic and pediatric cardiology service in Springfield, and an optometry clinic and optical shop in Eugene–leaving residents with even fewer healthcare choices.

“For years, nurses and providers at University District offered outstanding community care and provided an essential safety net for many of Lane County’s most vulnerable community members. Now staff at one hospital is responsible for patients from two communities,” said Kevyn Paul, an ONA member and former ER nurse at University District who currently works at Riverbend. “Our nurses and staff are doing their absolute best to give every patient the care they deserve, but we’re stretched to the breaking point. My heart goes out to everyone in our community who is feeling the impact of this change.”

The survey also asked patients to describe any positive experiences they had at PeaceHealth facilities. While many participants happily expressed gratitude towards the many nurses, doctors, techs and other caregivers who treated them; a number of respondents criticized PeaceHealth and its executives for what they perceived as greed and a lack of support for community health amid recent closures.  

Patients and Providers Agree on Solutions

When asked how to fix PeaceHealth’s problems, patients offered many of the same commonsense solutions frontline nurses, doctors, advanced practice providers, techs and other caregivers have called for including asking PeaceHealth to hire additional frontline caregivers and reopen a hospital and emergency room in Eugene. 

Other recommendations include ensuring providers and staff have more time to spend with patients and reducing wait times to ensure patients can get the care they need when they need it. For their part, frontline nurses, doctors, advanced practice providers, techs, and other caregivers continue calling on PeaceHealth to address its chronic care issues by adopting simple safety, transparency and accountability measures including:

Safe Staffing

• Improve staffing through additional hiring and incentives for frontline nurses, techs, providers and other caregivers and staff.
• Incentivize local RiverBend nurses to work in the emergency department, rather than contracting with short-term, expensive travel nurses.
• Open emergency department rooms earlier in the day and keep them staffed throughout the day to reduce patient wait times and meet changing patient needs.
• Replace the 30+ emergency departments beds lost due to the University District closure, including adding secure psychiatric beds that are essential to community health.
• Increase staffing at PeaceHealth Cottage Grove Community Medical Center to address increased patient volumes stemming from PeaceHealth’s closure of University District.

Public Transparency

• Publicly share data on how the closure of University District has affected our community’s healthcare, including sharing information it is required to report per its waiver agreement with the Oregon Health Authority (pg. 103) as well as current data on patient use trends at PeaceHealth Riverbend.
• Publicly share its plans and timeline for renovating PeaceHealth Riverbend’s emergency department to accommodate additional patients.

Community Accountability

• Recommit to providing healthcare to our communities’ most vulnerable residents including chronically ill, homebound, uninsured and underinsured populations.
• End recent corporate healthcare partnerships with for-profit, private-equity-backed corporations like LifePoint. Research shows for-profit, private-equity-linked healthcare ventures can lead to higher-cost, lower-quality healthcare. This demand also extends to other local healthcare companies who are eyeing for-profit partnerships.

"These results reaffirm what we've been advocating for years: short staffing poses serious risks to the future of patient care,” said Sarina Roher, President of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), representing nearly 350 technicians, therapists, and technical staff at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Riverbend. “PeaceHealth must step up to attract and retain qualified staff, while also ensuring transparency and accountability to the community we serve. Our patients and professionals deserve nothing less.”

The Providence St. Vincent nurse strike authorization comes on the heels of doctors at St. Vincent authorizing a strike just one week ago

(Portland, Ore.) – For the second time this year, nurses at Providence St. Vincent overwhelmingly gave permission to their bargaining team to call for a strike if necessary. The 1800 Providence St. Vincent nurses are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA).

“Providence is failing patients. We are asking for a fair contract to address Providence’s staffing problems and empower nurses to provide the high-quality care our patients deserve. Nurses have been negotiating in good faith since September 2023, but Providence continues to ignore the needs of patients and providers,” said Kathy Keane, RN, and ONA bargaining unit chair for Providence St. Vincent. “We don’t want to strike. But we can’t stand by and let Providence continue to fail our patients and our community. We need real change and a strike may be the only path left to protect our community’s health.”  

Nurses authorized the strike because of Providence’s failure to make necessary investments in its staff and patient care, and unwillingness to follow Oregon’s Hospital Nurse Staffing Law. In June 2024, nurses at St. Vincent and five other Providence hospitals walked off the job for three days. Their strike was followed by a two-day illegal lockout by the employer. It was the largest nurse strike in Oregon’s history.

“Everyone I’ve spoken with gave serious thought to their vote. We love caring for our patients. The last place any of us wants to be is on the strike line,” said Jessica Lobell, RN, and ONA vice chair of the bargaining unit. “But once again we had to make the tough choice, knowing that a fair contract is the only way to benefit our patients and community in the long run.”

Problems continue to mount for Providence as this strike authorization comes on the heels of doctors, physician associates, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and clinic nurses from Providence Women’s Clinic and Providence St. Vincent Hospital overwhelmingly authorizing their bargaining teams to call for a strike if necessary. The strikes could occur simultaneously.

Once a local Catholic health system, Providence has grown into a national conglomerate with 51 hospitals generating almost $30 billion in annual revenue as one of the ten largest health systems in the United States and the largest in Oregon.

A strike authorization vote does not necessarily mean the nurses will go on strike. They will continue to meet Providence at the bargaining table but now can call a strike if Providence continues to fail to offer them a fair contract that protects patients and frontline caregivers. A federal mediator has been assisting in the negotiations with nurses since June and the next scheduled bargaining date is November 15. Nurses are focused on staffing for stable patient care across the hospital as well as the retention of the most qualified nurses who continue to leave the bedside. Providence is far behind other local health system employers for total paid leave, differentials and healthcare benefits.

If a second strike is called, ONA will give Providence a 10-day notice to allow management adequate time to cease admissions and transfer patients or to reach a fair agreement with nurses and avert a work stoppage. 
 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) represents a diverse community of 20,000 nurses, and health care professionals throughout Oregon. Together, we use our collective power to advocate for critical issues impacting patients, nurses, and healthcare professionals including a more effective, affordable and accessible healthcare system; better working conditions for all healthcare professionals; and healthier communities. For more information visit www.OregonRN.org.

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WHAT: 
In another first for Oregon, doctors, physician associates, nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and clinic nurses from Providence Women’s Clinic and Providence St. Vincent Hospital voted overwhelmingly to authorize their bargaining teams to call for a strike if necessary. This would be the first doctor’s strike in Oregon history and comes on the heels of Providence nurses holding the largest nursing strike in Oregon history. 

Representatives of the bargaining units, including doctors and nurses, will be available to talk with the media about what negotiations with Providence management have been like, what they are advocating for, and why frontline caregivers voted to strike. 

WHEN/WHERE:    
Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. – Noon    
Oregon Nurses Association, 18765 SW Boones Ferry Road, 3rd Floor, Tualatin 

Media who are unable to attend in person, can schedule a time to talk with a doctor or nurse  from Providence Women’s Clinic or Providence St. Vincent Hospitalist bargaining unit via video conference or phone during the allotted time by emailing Myrna Jensen at Jensen@OregonRN.org 

WHO:  
Doctors and nurses from Providence St. Vincent and Providence Women’s Clinic.  

WHY:   
Doctors, nurse practitioners, physician associates, certified nurse midwives, and clinic nurses who work at Providence Women’s Clinic and Providence St. Vincent want to ensure safe environments for patients, provide high-quality care through appropriate staffing levels and have assurances that Providence will work with providers to recruit and retain highly skilled and valuable staff. These frontline caregivers have lost a tremendous amount of autonomy, respect, and in many cases, authority to best care for their patients and create a satisfying professional career. Instead, they have been forced into a corporate healthcare model that is causing moral injury and exhaustion. 

Negotiations commenced in November 2023 for Providence Women’s Clinic while hospitalists at Providence St. Vincent started in Jan 2024. Despite recent involvement of a federal mediator, Providence executives continue to ignore the calls of their frontline staff who are asking for more time to spend with patients, safe staffing levels, and competitive wages and benefits to be able to recruit and retain more staff. 

If a strike is called, it would be the first doctor’s strike in Oregon history. Should the need for a strike materialize, Providence will be given enough notice to allow adequate time to cease admissions and transfer patients or to reach a fair agreement and avert a work stoppage. The bargaining teams for Providence Women’s Clinic and Providence St. Vincent will continue to be available to meet Providence management at the bargaining table. 

Problems at Providence continue to mount as thousands of frontline staff are working without contracts at Providence facilities across Oregon. In June, 3,000 RNs from six Providence hospitals held a three-day strike in what was the largest nurses strike in Oregon history. Providence retaliated by locking them out for an additional two days. Since June, those bargaining units have met with management and a federal mediator on multiple occasions, but agreements have not been reached as Providence management continues to come up short on safe staffing and competitive wages and benefits that would help recruit and retain more nurses. Additionally, Nurses and clinicians from Providence Portland, Seaside and Home Health & Hospice began their negotiations with management last month. Contracts of those three bargaining units will expire Dec. 31, 2024.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) represents a diverse community of more than 20,000 nurses, and healthcare professionals throughout Oregon. Together, we use our collective power to advocate for critical issues impacting patients, nurses, and health care professionals including a more effective, affordable and accessible healthcare system; better working conditions for all health care professionals; and healthier communities. For more information visit www.OregonRN.org.

The Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA) was created in 2015 as the first hospitalist-specific labor union in the United States. It has since expanded to represent more doctors and advanced practice providers. PNWHMA is affiliated with AFT Healthcare—the fastest-growing healthcare union in the country. AFT Healthcare represents more than 200,000 members in 100 locals in 18 states and territories. PNWHMA bargaining units are serviced by ONA.
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