Portland, Ore. - The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) issued the following statement upon the announcement from the Oregon Health Authority that state health officials denied a waiver application from Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center (LMHMC) to stop providing required maternity services.

Nurses have been saying that Legacy’s decision to close the birthing center was a mistake for months. Not only has the community in East Multnomah County relied on Legacy Mt. Hood for these services for generations, but the closure of the birthing center would add additional burdens to accessing health care for an already underserved population. The decision by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to deny Legacy’s request is not only the right thing to do, it also gives Legacy yet another opportunity to step up and do the right thing for the people of East Multnomah County.

The advocacy of nurses and other front line health care workers, along with legislative champions like Representatives Zach Hudson and Ricki Ruiz, and Senator Chris Gorsek, has raised significant awareness among the public of Legacy’s poor decision-making and their failure to act in the best interests of their community. Now, with their waiver request denied, nurses are clear: Legacy must reopen the birthing center as soon as possible and begin the difficult work of rebuilding trust between a health system that tried to put profit before patients and the dedicated staff, and community members, who rely on them.

Nurses and community members are grateful to OHA for their swift and decisive ruling to deny Legacy this request. 

The Oregon Nurses Association is also calling for support for House Bill 3592 which would require OHA to consider equity implications in maternity waiver processes.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state, including more than 1,200 frontline nurses and allied health workers at multiple St. Charles Health facilities in Central and Eastern Oregon. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA), the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), Service Employees International Union Local 49 (SEIU) and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) have reached consensus on a series of amendments to HB 2697. These amendments will make significant, historic advances towards safe hospital staffing and quality patient care throughout the state and, if passed by the Oregon Legislature, will put Oregon at the forefront of hospital staffing laws in the nation. In addition to HB 2697, the coalition has agreed on a package of legislation that builds a pipeline of health care workers, addresses hospital capacity and discharge challenges, and improves the state’s cost growth target to support investment in frontline caregivers.

The collective package is the result of months of negotiations between the interested parties, at the urging of Rep. Rob Nosse (D - HD42), the main sponsor of HB 2697 and the Chair of the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care. With consensus reached, the amendments to HB 2697 and the additional components of the agreement will be shared with the Committee and forwarded to the House Ways and Means Committee no later than April 4. 

Key components of the amended bill include establishing first-in-the-nation nurse-to-patient ratios in state statute, for a wide range of hospital settings, including emergency departments, intensive care units, labor and delivery units, operating rooms, and others.  The bill also establishes committees for other hospital care providers like respiratory therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, environmental services workers and many others to create clear standards to improve staffing for the entire hospital care team. 

"ONA members are truly appreciative of the passionate work our partners and members have put into this legislation," said Tamie Cline, RN, president of the ONA Board of Directors. "This legislation is truly historic; Oregon will become the first state in the nation to have nurse-to-patient ratios codified in state statute. Simply put, this legislation, once passed, will be the high-water mark for safe staffing across the country, and will also help to significantly address the staffing crisis facing nurses and patients here in Oregon."

“We are very excited about the opportunities for all the workers who make up the care team to have a clear and resounding voice in hospital staffing. New committees for techs like respiratory therapists, imaging, dietary and environmental services workers and many others will now have a voice in safe patient care,” said Meg Niemi, SEIU Local 49 president. “And our union is excited to be the first in the nation with a ratio for certified nursing assistants in hospitals. This is one step in the workforce transformation that is needed, and we look forward to working together to create more opportunities.” 

“We are excited to be part of such a dynamic coalition fighting to see real changes across Oregon’s health system,” says OFNHP President Jonathon Baker. “This is an essential step towards fixing our staffing crisis, and we are grateful to those who collaborated with us to help ensure this groundbreaking piece of legislation can become law.”

“We’re grateful for the collective efforts that led to this agreement,” said Becky Hultberg, President and CEO of OAHHS. “The bill supports our hardworking frontline staff and reduces many of the administrative burdens hospitals currently face. We’re also thankful for labor’s support and commitment to the package of bills that will help protect access to care in our communities.” 

New enforcement mechanisms are also included in the amended bill language. 

“Our coalition is urging legislators to pass this historic legislation immediately and in parallel with the broader package,” said Baker. 

“We look forward to working together to improve other aspects of the health care workforce including increasing the number of educators and clinical spots to bring more people into the health care profession, as well as making sure that improvements can be sustained through hospital financials,” said Niemi. “By working together, we believe we will continue to improve the working conditions for our frontline staff, bring more people into rewarding professional careers and sustain and improve our health care system for Oregonians.”

A one-page overview of the amendments to HB 2697 and the related package of policy and funding agreements has been provided to Oregon legislators, which has been attached to this release for reference.
 

Legacy executives’ plan to close the Family Birth Center would cut access to women’s health care for thousands of underserved families in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. 

Gresham, Ore - Registered nurses, elected officials and local families will hold a candlelight vigil and media availability Friday, March 17 to call on Legacy Health executives to reverse course and save the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. Despite near-universal opposition from frontline health care workers, local families, elected officials, and community advocates–and without approval from the Oregon Health Authority–Legacy executives have said they plan to stop accepting patients to the family birth center on March 17 at 11:59 p.m. 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) issued the following statement upon receiving confirmation that the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has not approved Legacy Health’s controversial plan to close the Family Birth Center:
Legacy has been given a gift. It has another chance to do the right thing. Nurses, families, and community leaders from all walks of life have been crying out for Legacy to reverse its hasty decision and work with us to save the family birth center. OHA’s announcement buys Legacy more time to listen to its community and protect health care access for thousands of families in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. 

The family birth center is Oregonians’ only hospital birthplace option in Gresham–Oregon’s 4th largest city–and the closest option for thousands of underserved families in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. Doctors and nurses there deliver and care for more than 750 babies and families a year, providing emergency and non-emergency OB-GYN services and triage for more acute OB-GYN patients than any other Legacy hospital.

Originally founded in part with community funds, the birth center serves nearly 275,000 people in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties including historically underserved neighborhoods with some of the highest concentrations of poverty in Oregon. “At a time when women’s health is already under attack, it is irresponsible for Legacy to close the door on these women,” said Ginny Moyer, a labor & delivery nurse at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. “The choice by Legacy administration to close the Family Birth Center and remove OB-GYN physicians from the patient care model is unsafe, hazardous and irresponsible. Per Legacy’s mission statement: ‘Our mission is for good health for our people, our patients, our communities and our world. Above all, we will do the right thing.’ Legacy administration, this is not the right thing,” said Teddy Glemser, emergency department charge nurse at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center and a Family Birth Center patient.

WHO/WHAT: Nurses and health care workers, local and state elected officials, patients, families and community members will hold a candlelight vigil to draw attention to the imminent closure of the Family Birth Center
WHEN: Friday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Outside Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center, 24800 SE Stark St, Gresham, OR 97030

In addition to their work to save the family birth center, frontline nurses at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center filed for a union election to join the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) on March 6. Nurses cited a need to unionize to protect patients’ access to safe, high-quality health care; restore respect for frontline workers; and gain a voice in decisions that affect their community’s health and welfare.  

Legacy Health is a multi-billion dollar private health system that operates six hospitals and more than 70 clinics in the Portland-Vancouver metro area and mid-Willamette Valley. While many companies posted losses during the pandemic; Legacy profited. It made more than $400 million in profits from 2020-2022 including nearly $100 million in taxpayer bailouts via the CARES Act. Prior to the pandemic, Legacy’s hospital profits averaged between $44 million to $79 million per year from 2007-2019. Legacy also holds more than $1 billion in its investment portfolio. 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

Local nurses, elected leaders, patients and families led a rally to Save the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center Feb. 13. The family birth center is Oregonians’ only hospital birthplace option in Gresham–Oregon’s 4th largest city–and the closest option for thousands of underserved families in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties.
Pick a photo: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lurdkl93f8a1lbo/AAAyRsd5k0WESAFExpGgxil7a?dl=0 
 

Oregon nurses and health care workers at St. Anthony Hospital and Mercy Medical Center have suffered from CommonSpirit's inaccurate pay. Photo courtesy of the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA).

(Salem, OR) – After months of inaccurate and illegally withheld pay, Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) members filed a class action lawsuit against CommonSpirit Health in February. Nurses are suing CommonSpirit to stop it from committing wage theft and recoup lost pay for health care workers at CommonSpirit’s hospitals in Roseburg and Pendleton.

ONA represents more than 500 registered nurses and allied health care workers at CommonSpirit-owned Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg and St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. CommonSpirit is the country’s third-largest hospital and health care system. It owns 140 hospitals and more than 1,500 other health care sites in 21 states.

Nurses’ class action lawsuit seeks to recover unpaid wages and damages owed to all workers at CommonSpirit facilities in Oregon, prevent CommonSpirit from continuing its wage theft and provide a fair and accurate accounting of workers’ hours and pay.

In October 2022, CommonSpirit experienced a cyberattack which compromised more than half a million patients’ personal health information and shut down hospital IT systems including electronic timekeeping systems. 

In the pay periods following the outage, CommonSpirit significantly underpaid many nurses and allied health workers while also claiming it overpaid certain workers. Instead of providing proof of alleged overpayments, CommonSpirit illegally withheld workers’ earnings from future paychecks. This resulted in nurses receiving less pay than they earned including one Mercy nurse getting paid $0 after working 67 hours in a pay period. CommonSpirit also told multiple nurses they owe it more than $2000 each without providing any documentation or evidence.

CommonSpirit has also failed correct its inaccurate underpayments–leaving frontline workers waiting months to receive the full pay and benefits they’ve earned.  

“I clock in with the expectation that I’m going to get paid for my work, my experience, my education,” registered nurse LaRae Ernst told The News-Review in December 2022. Ernst is an ONA member at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, Oregon. CommonSpirit initially overpaid her in October 2022. It then incorrectly withheld thousands of dollars from her paychecks before asking her to payback twice the amount of the original overpayment or risk being sent to collections. “I had to cancel my daughter’s Sweet 16. It broke my heart to look my daughter in the eye and tell her she wasn’t going to get her party. That’s when I decided I wasn’t going to be quiet any more about this.” 

Nurses have been asking CommonSpirit to address its wage theft and inaccurate payments since November. In December, more than 370 ONA nurses and health care workers at Mercy Medical Center and St. Anthony Hospital delivered a signed petition to hospital management demanding CommonSpirit provide documentation of alleged overpayments. Workers also met with hospital management to ask for an independent audit but were denied–leaving nurses no choice but to pursue legal action to ensure frontline nurses and health care workers are paid the amounts they’ve earned. 

Any Oregon nurse, caregiver, or health care workers who has been a victim of CommonSpirit’s wage theft and inaccurate pay is considered part of the class action. The lawsuit is filed in Marion County Circuit Court. Plaintiffs estimate CommonSpirit may owe workers as much as $200,000 in unpaid or improperly withheld wages and CommonSpirit could face up to $800,000 in statutory penalties and damages.  

CommonSpirit is also facing class action lawsuits from multiple patients alleging the health giant failed to implement basic data security measures to protection patient health information. 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state, including more than 500 registered nurses working at CommonSpirit hospitals in southern and eastern Oregon. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

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Frontline nurses at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham announced their intent to join the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) March 6. Photo courtesy of the ONA.

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(GRESHAM, Ore.) – Frontline nurses working at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham filed for a union election to join the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) March 6. 

The 370 nurses at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center care for diverse, fast-growing communities in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties which have been historically underserved. Nurses are unionizing with ONA to protect patients’ access to safe, high-quality health care; restore respect for frontline workers; and gain a voice in decisions that affect their community’s health and welfare.  

“Nurses advocate to protect our patients’ health and safety every day. We know our community puts its faith in us and we take that responsibility seriously. We’re focused on improving health care access and affordability for the people living here. Joining ONA is how nurses will win a real voice in hospital decision making and ensure our patients, providers and community get a fair shot,” said Teddy Glemser, an emergency department charge nurse at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. 

Nurses filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which oversees private sector union elections. ONA will meet with the NLRB to confirm unit details and schedule an election date. ONA currently represents more than 300 frontline registered nurses at Unity Center for Behavioral Health in Portland and Legacy Silverton Medical Center in the Willamette Valley. 

Nurses are also leading the campaign to save the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. In January, Legacy executives announced they planned to close the center–sparking widespread opposition from local nurses, families, city councilors, state legislators and community advocates. The family birth center is the only hospital birthplace option in Gresham–Oregon’s 4th largest city–and the closest option for families in East Multnomah and Clackamas Counties. Doctors and nurses there deliver and care for more than 750 babies and families a year. Providers at the family birth center also provide emergency and non-emergency OB-GYN services and triage more acute OB-GYN patients than any other Legacy hospital.

Alejandrina Felipe was raised in Gresham and has spent the last 22 years caring for her community as a nurse at the family birth center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. She’s worried about what will happen to her patients after the center closes. “As a minority, I’ve always believed in the power of unionizing and the work immigrant leaders did to get basic rights. Therefore, as a registered nurse, I always wanted to be part of a union. I want my job as a nurse to be protected and to have a voice at the table when decisions are made that affect my employment and patient safety. I want to continue advocating for my community without fear of retaliation. I am learning firsthand the hardship of being displaced from a job I always felt safe and most of all not serving my East County community," Felipe said. "La unión unida, jamás será vencida.”

“Executives downtown don’t know our community or its needs. Their decisions are setting up local families for failure,” said Jenni Suarez, a frontline nurse in the emergency department at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center. “We’re not just your nurses; we’re your neighbors. We put everything into caring for everyone who comes through our doors. Unionizing with ONA gives us a strong voice to fight for the care improvements our patients and community need.”

Nurses at Legacy are joining a wave of health care professionals who have filed to join ONA within the past month. The list includes doctors, midwives and other providers at Providence Women’s Clinic which operates six women’s health clinics across the Portland metro area and physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers and counselors at Providence Home Health and Hospice who work throughout the Portland Metro, North Coast, Yamhill County and the Columbia River Gorge areas. Emergency department physicians working at Providence Medford Medical Center also filed union authorization cards with the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA), a hospitalists’ union represented by the American Federation of Teachers (Local 6552) and serviced by the Oregon Nurses Association.

Legacy Health is a multi-billion dollar private health system which operates six hospitals, and more than 70 clinics in the Portland-Vancouver metro area and mid-Willamette Valley. While many companies posted losses during the pandemic; Legacy profited. It made more than $400 million in profits from 2020-2022 including nearly $100 million in taxpayer bailouts via the CARES Act. Prior to the pandemic, Legacy’s hospital profits averaged between $44 million to $79 million per year from 2007-2019. Legacy also holds more than $1 billion in its investment portfolio. 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union which represents more than 15,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

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Testimony before the Oregon House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care on both February 27 and 28, 2023 from nursing and frontline health care leaders and experts from across Oregon and the American Nurses Association was unequivocal; HB 2697 will improve staffing and patient care, and Oregon has more than enough nurses to meet the common sense, research-tested minimum staffing standards required by the bill. 

Tuesday’s public testimony saw overflowing hearing rooms, with hundreds of nurses and health care providers from across the state in attendance; so many, in fact, that not everyone could testify, even though the public testimony period was extended. More than 400 pieces of written testimony in support of the bill were also submitted.  

Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAA, President of the American Nurses Association, testified during the invited hearing on February 27, that “the American Nurses Association supports enforceable, minimum nurse staffing ratios as a valuable approach to reduce patient harm, improve quality outcomes, and ensure the creation of a healthy work environment. HB 2697 will improve nurse staffing and patient care.” 

ONA and OFNHP believe the position taken by Oregon’s hospitals and health care systems that “there aren’t enough nurses to meet these standards” was always based on faulty data. Dr. Kennedy clearly agreed, pointing directly to data from California (which passed similar staffing standards in 2001).  

“There are concerns that there are not enough staff for ratios in Oregon,” Dr. Kennedy testified. “But based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics, August of 2022 data shows that California has 8.1 nurses per 1,000 and Oregon has 8.92 nurses per 1,000 population. This is over 8% more nurses per population than in California.” 

Further testimony indicated that Oregon’s current situation, where nurses and other frontline health care workers are chronically understaffed, poses a direct threat to patient health. “Nurses who care for more patients are more likely to experience medication errors,” said Tamie Cline, RN, President of the Oregon Nurses Association. “We see increased patient mortality, more pressure ulcers, more infections, more cases of pneumonia, longer hospital stays, more hospital re-admissions, more respiratory failures, and more preventable death.” 

These same issues are affecting dozens of classifications that make up the entire care model of the hospitals, including health care professionals like physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and physician’s assistants. “We know that understaffing affects the entire system of care in a hospital, impacting dozens of positions and creating a nearly unworkable system for those providing care to our communities,” says Jonathon Baker, President of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP). “The evidence is clear. Setting minimum staffing standards is the necessary first step in solving our staffing crisis and will help to re-establish trust with the health care workers that have been pushed out of the industry by dangerous conditions.” 

HB 2697 also directly addresses another key issue for nurses and frontline health care workers: systemic failures to ensure staff get their legally required rest and meal breaks. “For nurses and allied health care workers, meal and rest breaks are essential to prevent exhaustion, medication errors, and burnout,” said ONA Executive Director Anne Tan Piazza. “In a 12-hour shift, Oregon law affords workers a 30-minute meal break and three 15-minute rest breaks. We know that nurses are not getting their breaks. This is not in question. In fact, a recent survey of ONA members indicates that 92% of nurses report missing meal and rest breaks.” 

Testimony, research and data all agree: HB 2697 is right for Oregon, will prevent ongoing turnover of crucial health care staff, will encourage those carers that have already left the bedside to return, will alleviate unsafe working conditions for nurses and other providers, and will help ensure the best outcomes for patients. 

ONA and OFNHP, along with our colleagues from the American Nurses Association and the American Federation of Teachers, urge the Oregon Legislature to pass this bill.  

More information can be found at www.SafeStaffingSavesLives.com