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News Release
Community allies, nurses and elected leaders led a march and informational picket near Providence Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Wednesday, May 11. Nurses at Providence St. Vincent and Providence Willamette Falls successfully reached tentative agreement
Community allies, nurses and elected leaders led a march and informational picket near Providence Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Wednesday, May 11. Nurses at Providence St. Vincent and Providence Willamette Falls successfully reached tentative agreement
Media advisory: Oregon nurses marching through downtown Hood River during First Friday event, July 1 (Photo) - 06/30/22

Nurses will be marching alongside community allies and an elected official in an informational picket starting at Jackson Park near Providence Hood River Medical Center and marching through downtown Hood River on Friday, July 1 from 5 - 6:30 PM.

WHAT: Frontline nurses who work at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital will participate in a march and informational picket about raising health care standards for nurses, patients and our community on Friday, July 1. The nurses—represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA)—will be joined by Oregon elected leaders, worker advocates and community allies. 

ONA represents more than 4,000 frontline nurses working in 10 Providence Health System facilities from Portland to Medford including nearly 150 nurses working at Providence Hood River. Nurses are standing together to raise standards for caregivers, our patients and our communities within Providence—Oregon’s largest health care system and one of the state’s largest companies. 

WHEN: Friday, July 1 at 5 p.m. The event is expected to last approximately an hour to an hour and a half.

WHERE: Starting at Jackson Park (near the intersection of May St. and 13th St. in Hood River), nurses will march to Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital (810 12th St., Hood River, OR 97031) and proceed north on 13th St., turning east on Oak St. and marching through downtown Hood River before concluding at Georgiana Smith Park (513 Oak St., Hood River, OR 97031). 

See route map attached.

Nurses and community leaders will hold speeches at the end of the march at Georgiana Smith Park. 

WHO: ONA frontline nurses from Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital along with visiting nurse supporters from across the state will be picketing along with community allies and worker advocates. Frontline nurses and allies will also be speaking in support of ONA nurses. 

Expected speakers include:

  • State Representative Anna Williams
  • Union leaders from the Oregon Education Association
  • Local community health leaders
  • Multiple ONA frontline nurses who work at Providence Hood River
  • ONA frontline nurse supporters from OHSU

WHY: ONA nurses are picketing to improve patient safety and working conditions, address Providence’s staffing crisis, and raise standards to recruit and retain caregivers. Despite nurses’ sacrifices over the last two years serving on the frontlines of a deadly pandemic, Providence has left nurses at Providence Hood River working without the safety and security of a contract. Providence allowed nurses' contract at Providence Hood River to expire in March. ONA nurses from Providence Hood River and community allies are coming together to put patients first and make much-needed safety, staffing and care improvements for their community. 

As a rural critical access hospital, it is crucial that Providence supports local patients and listens to ONA frontline nurses at Hood River as they ask for basic safety standards to protect their patients, their coworkers and their families including: 

  • Stronger patient safety standards to reduce future COVID-19 outbreaks and ensure the highest standards of care for all Oregonians.
  • Safe nurse staffing to ensure high-quality care and patient access.
  • Affordable health care and paid leave so frontline nurses can seek care after COVID-19 exposures and afford health care for their own families.
  • A fair compensation package that allows hospitals to recruit and retain the skilled frontline caregivers our communities need to stay healthy and safe.

“Frontline nurses have invested in Providence with our blood, sweat, tears and our dollars. Now we’re asking Providence to invest in our communities. It’s time for Providence to listen to nurses across the state and reinvest in patient safety, safe staffing, and caregiver retention to improve health care for all Oregonians,” said ONA President Lynda Pond, RN.

Friday’s informational picket is open to the public. It is an outdoor, rain-or-shine event. Participants are encouraged to wear masks while in close contact with others, take measures to promote social distancing and follow guidance from designated picket captains and safety personnel.

NOTE: An informational picket is not a strike or work stoppage. It is a demonstration of solidarity to Providence’s administrators and a promise to our community that nurses, elected leaders and allies are united to raise health care standards at Providence and throughout Oregon.


ONA is also pleased to announce we have reached tentative contract agreements at two Providence hospitals in the Portland metro area and have made significant progress towards a tentative agreement at a third Portland-area Providence hospital. 

ONA nurse leaders at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City and Providence Milwaukie Hospital met in an unprecedented joint bargaining session with Providence administrators Tuesday, June 28 to try to secure fair contracts which raise patient safety standards, addresses staffing issues and keeps health care affordable throughout the Portland metro area. 

Following a historic 24-hour bargaining session which concluded on Wednesday, June 29, nurse leaders at Providence St. Vincent and Providence Willamette Falls reached new two-year tentative contract agreements which successfully address patient safety, staffing and health care affordability issues. Nurse leaders at Providence Milwaukie have come to a partial agreement and will continue negotiations July 7.

The ONA nurse bargaining teams at both Providence St. Vincent and Providence Willamette Falls are strongly recommending a “yes” vote on their tentative agreements. ONA nurses at both Providence St. Vincent and Providence Willamette Falls will have the opportunity to vote on their respective tentative contract agreements in the coming weeks. If approved, the new contracts will take effect immediately.  

In May, nurses at Providence St. Vincent voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike against Providence. Nurses at Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center also previously authorized strikes against Providence. The two tentative agreements (TA) will avert a strike at those hospitals if ONA members vote to approve the TAs. The TAs and votes do not directly impact nurses’ negotiations or public actions at Providence Hood River. 

While Providence has shown a willingness to listen to ONA nurses in the Portland-metro area, nurses at Hood River are further apart at the bargaining table and ONA nurses are committed to remaining united and supporting nurses at Hood River and Milwaukie as they work towards fair and equitable contract agreements which benefit all Oregonians.

ONA nurses have volunteered their time to meet with Providence managers more than 50 times over the last eight months to bargain multiple contracts at Providence's Oregon hospitals. ONA frontline nurses across Oregon have asked Providence for basic safety standards and are offering common sense proposals to protect our patients, our coworkers and our families including stronger patient safety standards, safe nurse staffing, affordable health care, paid leave, and a fair compensation package that enables the hospital to recruit and retain the skilled frontline caregivers our communities need to stay healthy and safe.

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 4,000 nurses working at 10 Providence Oregon health care facilities 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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