MEDIA ADVISORY: Oregon Nurses To Picket Providence Hood River, Sept. 15 At 4:30 PM (Photo) - 09/15/22
TODAY: Local nurses and community supporters will hold an informational picket on public property outside Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital Thursday, Sept. 15 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
WHAT: Frontline nurses who work at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital will lead a public informational picket about unsafe staffing, safety standards and community health needs in Hood River Thursday, Sept. 15. The nurses—represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA)—will be joined by statewide health care leaders, union allies and local community supporters. Nurses and allies including ONA President Tamie Cline and nurses from Providence Hood River will give speeches and hold media availability throughout the event.
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. ONA nurses at Hood River are standing together to raise standards for caregivers and patients at Providence—Oregon’s largest health care system and one of the state’s largest companies.
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 15 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: The intersection of 12th St. and May St. in Hood River, OR. On public property directly outside Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital (810 12th St., Hood River, OR 97031).
WHO: ONA frontline nurses from Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital along with nurse supporters from across the state, community allies and worker advocates will join the picket.
WHY: Nurses at Providence Hood River have been working without a contract since March 2022 and have been meeting unsuccessfully with Providence executives for more than 7 months to try to reach a fair contract agreement which improves patient safety and nurses’ working conditions, addresses Providence’s staffing crisis and allows the hospital to recruit and retain nurses and caregivers our community needs. Despite nurses’ sacrifices 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 for nearly half a year.
As a rural critical access hospital, Providence must retain the ability to care for local patients and listen to ONA frontline nurses at Hood River as they demand basic safety standards to protect our patients, our coworkers and our families including:
- Safe nurse staffing to ensure high-quality care and improve patients' access to health care.
- Stronger patient safety standards to ensure the highest standards of care for all Oregonians and reduce COVID-19 outbreaks.
- Affordable health care and paid leave so frontline nurses can 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 during a recognized nurse shortage.
Thursday’s informational picket is open to the public and is an outdoor, rain-or-shine event. Nurses invite the public to attend to meet with nurses and learn how their community's health care is being impacted by Providence executives' decisions. Participants are expected to 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.
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.
