NPs and PAs File to Join ONA.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Nurse practitioners and physician assistants at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center and Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center are calling for a union election to join the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). The more than 40 advanced practice providers (APPs) want to unionize to ensure safe staffing for patients, address provider burnout, and use their collective voice and expertise to raise standards at both hospitals. The group submitted union authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Dec. 6. The NLRB is expected to hold a hearing and set an election date in the coming weeks.  

“Physician assistants and nurse practitioners at Legacy have been begging for a voice and professional recognition for over a decade. Despite the fact that we are critical frontline providers, Legacy does not recognize our value. We are hopeful that with a change in our administration, we can have a seat at the table and facilitate changes that we know will optimize patient care,” said Leigh Warsing, a physician assistant at Legacy Emanuel and Good Samaritan.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants at Legacy’s downtown and North Portland hospitals are the latest in a long line of Legacy health care professionals to organize. Nurses at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center in Gresham voted to join ONA in April, doctors at multiple Legacy hospitals voted to unionize with the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association Nov. 17, and advanced practice providers and other health care professionals at Legacy’s Women’s Health Clinics filed for a union election to join ONA Nov. 9.

“The ability of APP’s to continue providing comprehensive patient-centered care in an ever-changing healthcare environment is now challenged as a result of increasing staff shortages. Experienced healthcare providers are leaving the field in droves, not because their commitment toward their patients is diminished, but because we are not being provided with the right resources and opportunities to do our job effectively and are not being treated respectfully and professionally by institutional leadership, said Aurora Stevens, a nurse practitioner at Legacy Emanuel and Good Samaritan. "In order to stem this exodus and to create positive working conditions and an environment where can all flourish, Legacy APP’s need a seat at the table to work side-by-side with administration. Together we can work toward the goal of offering the highest possible quality care to patients while valuing the working conditions of APP providers. Through unionization, we strive to create a work environment that draws highly trained and dedicated employees to continue to pursue our mission of serving our community.” 

“Advanced practice providers have for years, sought a partnership with with Legacy’s leadership. The failure of this effort and the failure to acknowledge the daily efforts of APPs within the hospital have brought our members together, to speak with a single voice. We aim to create teams that will attract experienced providers; teams who will mentor early-career professionals, and teams who can effectively retain experienced and dedicated staff. We believe these aims will strengthen relationships with our nursing and physician colleagues, reflecting a new level of team professionalism. Highly experienced and dedicated APP staff members position our teams to enhance our goal of being the safest place to receive medical care, while seeking to soften and further humanize the hospital experience of our patients and their family members,” said Rob Berkshire, a physician assistant at Legacy Emanuel and Good Samaritan.

Legacy Health is a private nonprofit health system that operates eight hospitals and more than 70 clinics in Oregon and Washington. It made headlines after illegally attempting to close the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mt. Hood, the horrific acts of violence in the workplace at Legacy Good Samaritan, and its announced plan to be acquired by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

• Click here for a Union 101 Fact Sheet.

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union representing more than 17,000 nurses and health care professionals throughout the state. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.

ONA nurses and supporters held a rally outside PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Riverbend June 7 to raise awareness about staffing issues at Sacred Heart hospitals and home care. Nurses are demanding PeaceHealth executives work with local nurses to improve health care for our community.

Home care and hospice nurses are fighting for a fair contract to address record turnover and job vacancies.

(Eugene, Ore.) - Dozens of local nurses, health care providers, elected officials and community supporters are leading an informational picket and rally outside PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services offices in downtown Eugene Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 5 - 7 p.m. Home health and hospice nurses are demanding PeaceHealth address its growing home care staffing crisis and compensate nurses equitably to meet the community's increasing health needs.

Sacred Heart Home Care nurses travel to patients’ homes to provide vital medical and end-of-life care for residents throughout Lane County. After almost a year of unsuccessful contract bargaining with PeaceHealth, dozens of home care nurses have already left and a staggering one-third of home care nurses plan to leave next year if their contract isn’t resolved equitably.

Frontline nurses working at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA).

WHAT: Nurse Informational Picket and Public Rally

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. 5 - 7 p.m.
 
WHERE: Outside PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services offices in downtown Eugene. 
677 E 12th Ave. Eugene, OR 97401

WHO: Home health, home infusion and hospice nurses at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services, along with other health care workers, elected officials and community supporters including Oregon State Senator James Manning, State Representative Julie Fahey, Eugene City Councilors Matt Keating, and Jennifer Yeh as well as other community leaders.

Reporters and media representatives are encouraged to attend this event to capture the stories and voices of frontline home care and hospice nurses and inform the community about record turnover and worsening care conditions.

WHY: Sacred Heart Home Care nurses play an essential, but often unseen, role in our community. No matter where you call home–an urban apartment, rural house in the country or a tent under the freeway–home care nurses meet you where you are to deliver health care you can’t get anywhere else. They help patients return home to continue healing after being hospitalized for traumatic injuries or illnesses. They also assist patients and their families transition into the final stages of life with expert support, care and guidance to give sick and dying individuals dignity and freedom.

Despite their essential work, PeaceHealth has dragged out home care nurses’ contract negotiations for a year and continues to low-ball home care nurses with inequitable compensation which is less than other similar home health agencies and significantly less than PeaceHealth pays Sacred Heart hospital nurses–despite previously paying them equally. 

PeaceHealth’s disrespect towards home care nurses is driving many local nurses to quit–threatening patients’ care and placing an undue burden on the nurses left behind who are forced to take on even more work.  

PeaceHealth’s failure to retain and recruit home care nurses has real impacts for vulnerable patients who are experiencing delays and a loss of service. PeaceHealth was only able to admit 57% of hospital-referred home care patients into its programs in a timely fashion in October. The national average is 95%.

Local nurses are demanding PeaceHealth executives in Vancouver come to the table to reach a fair contract agreement that enables them to recruit and retain the highly skilled and valuable nurses who care for some of the most complex home care patients in the state.

Nurses have been bargaining for a new contract since January 2023. PeaceHealth allowed nurses’ contract to expire in April 2023 and has refused to reach an agreement with home care nurses despite coming to terms with local hospital nurses at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in August. 

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 17,000 nurses and allied health workers throughout the state, including 1,500 frontline nurses at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center and Sacred Heart Home Care Services. 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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Nearly 200 Hospital Doctors in Oregon and Washington Join the White Coat Labor Movement.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Doctors at six Legacy Health hospitals in Oregon and Washington overwhelmingly voted to unionize this week. The hospital doctors, or hospitalists, are unionizing to improve local health care and ensure frontline providers have a voice in the decisions that impact their patients’ care, communities’ health and hospital working conditions. 

“We’re caring for more people who are sicker than ever before. We need more staff to give our patients the time and attention they need,” said Eric Seymour, a pediatric hospitalist at Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland. “Hospital administrators aren’t at the bedside to see the problems and aren’t listening to providers’ solutions. We voted to unionize so the people caring for you can advocate for you and your family. We need a seat at the table to ensure we have the staff, tools, and support we need to properly care for our patients.” 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) oversaw Legacy hospitalists’ elections this week and certified the results Friday, Nov. 17. The new hospitalist group will join the Pacific Northwest Hospital Medicine Association (PNWHMA)—a physician and advanced practice provider union represented by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The PNWHMA is staffed by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA).  

Hospitalists at Legacy are the latest frontline health care workers to join Oregon’s white coat labor movement. Just this year, doctors and advanced practice providers have voted to unionize at Legacy hospitals, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Providence Women’s Clinics, Providence Home Health and Hospice, and Providence Medford Medical Center. Nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, registered nurses, social workers and genetic counselors at Legacy’s women’s health clinics in Oregon and Washington also filed for a union election to join ONA Nov. 9.

The new union hospitalists at Legacy work at: 

• Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland
• Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland
• Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland
• Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center in Tualatin
• Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham
• Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, WA

“The hospital works best when physicians have a strong voice and Legacy truly needs our help running the hospital and fixing our many systemic issues,” said Dr. Rob Morgan, an internal medicine physician at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center and Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. “We got into medicine to help people, but we can't help anyone if we're not healthy ourselves. Through our union, I hope we can build back a strong long-term relationship with hospital leadership that prioritizes our wellbeing and necessary resources for providing safe, sustainable, high-quality patient care now and in the future. I love working at Legacy and I love all the frontline staff here. It's my sincerest hope to work here for the rest of my career in medicine.”  

The nearly 200 hospitalists at Legacy immediately become one of the largest hospitalist union groups in the country and join nearly 700 ONA union nurses and mental and behavioral health professionals already working in the Legacy Health system.

Although unionized nurses have been advocating for better patient care and working conditions in Oregon for more than 100 years, new groups of Oregon health care workers are now joining or forming their own unions in large numbers. Twenty years ago, few US physicians were part of a union, but as health care systems have become larger and more corporate, doctors see collective bargaining as the best way to ensure their voices are heard in decisions that affect their patients and their profession. 

• Click here for a Union 101 Fact Sheet

Legacy Health is a private nonprofit health system which operates eight hospitals and more than 70 clinics in Oregon and Washington. It recently made news after unlawfully attempting to close the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mt. Hood, the horrific acts of violence in the workplace at Legacy Good Samaritan, and its announced intent to merge with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

During the pandemic, Legacy collected more than $400 million in profits between 2020-2022 including nearly $100 million in taxpayer bailouts via the CARES Act. Prior to 2020, Legacy’s hospital profits averaged between $44 million to $79 million per year. Legacy also owns a significant $1 billion + investment portfolio. 

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. 

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 17,000 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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Legacy Women's Clinic employees

Nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, registered nurses, social workers and genetic counselors at Legacy’s Women’s Health Clinics File to Unionize with ONA
Click here for a Union 101 Fact Sheet

(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Health care professionals at Legacy’s women’s health clinics announced their intent to unionize with the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) on November 9. The employees are unionizing to improve patient safety and caregiver well-being through safe, sustainable staffing; reasonable work-life balance; appropriate wages and benefits; and to better advocate for their patients, colleagues and community.

The health care professionals include more than 60 registered nurses, social workers, certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and genetic counselors at Legacy’s women’s health clinics who provide personal, comprehensive, reproductive health care to patients throughout Oregon and Washington. The health care professionals filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Nov. 9.

“We value Legacy’s mission and values and hope to have long careers serving our patients and local communities here,” said Heather Webster, a certified nurse-midwife with Legacy Medical Group at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in North Portland. “We believe unionizing will spark a culture shift where Legacy management sees the irreplaceable value our nurses, midwives, social workers and counselors have as skilled leaders and changemakers in health care. Standing together in a union gives us a chance to use our voices and skills to improve how care is delivered systemwide.”

Unionizing providers work at the following Legacy facilities: 
Portland
Legacy Medical Group–Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Emanuel
Legacy Medical Group–Midwifery at Emanuel
Legacy Medical Group–Portland Obstetrics and Gynecology at Good Samaritan

Gresham
Legacy Medical Group–Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Mount Hood
Legacy Medical Group–Mount Hood Women's Health

Silverton
Legacy Medical Group–Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Silverton
Legacy Medical Group–Women's Health at Silverton

Keizer
Legacy Medical Group–Women's Health in Keizer

Woodburn
Legacy Medical Group–Women's Health in Woodburn

Vancouver, WA
Legacy Medical Group–Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Salmon Creek

"Since its founding over 100 years ago, Silverton Hospital has been known for the exceptional care we provide to our community. We care for families from all over rural Marion County and the Santiam Canyon. When Legacy moved to close the family birth center at Legacy Mt. Hood this spring, we saw that the kind of care we provide to our patients can disappear in a moment. We are forming a union to put protections in place to ensure that high-quality community-focused care remains the standard for birthing families in Marion County and across the Legacy Health system,” said Lori Swain a certified nurse-midwife with Legacy Medical Group at Women’s Health locations in Silverton, Keizer and Woodburn. 

A pre-election hearing will occur in the coming weeks unless there is an election agreement sooner. The election will occur soon after. If the employees vote in favor of representation, they will join nearly 700 ONA union nurses and behavioral health professionals already working in the Legacy Health system. They will also join hospitalists at all eight Legacy hospitals who are holding their union vote next week. 

Legacy Health is a private nonprofit health system that operates eight hospitals and more than 70 clinics in Oregon and Washington. It recently made news after illegally attempting to close the Family Birth Center at Legacy Mt. Hood, the horrific acts of violence in the workplace at Legacy Good Samaritan, and its announcement to combine with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

“While we have mixed feelings about the OHSU/Legacy integration, the evidence from other mergers is clear. When large health systems merge, the cost of health care goes up and patient outcomes go down. However, midwives and other women’s clinic providers are uniquely poised to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs,” Webster said. “By organizing now we can integrate our work into the fabric of these institutions to ensure we keep raising standards and improving birth equity for birthing people and families throughout the Pacific Northwest.”
 

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is the state’s largest and most influential nursing organization. We are a professional association and labor union representing more than 17,000 nurses and health care professionals throughout the state. ONA’s mission is to advocate for nursing, quality health care and healthy communities. For more information visit: www.OregonRN.org.