Providence is cutting back on services at three of its Oregon facilities to brace for an upcoming nurses’ union strike. The 51-hospital health system is preparing to reduce services next week at Providence Portland Medical Center, Providence Seaside Hospital, and Providence Home Health and Hospice.
The decision is a response to an imminent strike planned by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA). The labor union represents about 1,800 nurses and clinicians across the three facilities at which Providence is downsizing services. Its nurses are asking for better staffing and working conditions so that they can continue to provide quality patient care — they are moving to strike as a means to fight for “safe patient care standards to be protected in their contracts,” the ONA said in a statement.
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Providence said that it proposed significant wage increases during the negotiation process, but the ONA said that what it really wants is for the health system to make changes to address “historic unsafe staffing levels.”
To get ready for the strike, Providence is halting all surgeries except those that are “life-and-death” at Providence Portland. At this hospital, Providence will also shut down the neonatal intensive care unit, move scheduled baby deliveries, decrease patient transfers from other hospitals, and stop taking patients in need of ECMO (a life-saving intensive respiratory care treatment).
Typically, Providence Portland cares for as many as 400 patients a day. The health system said it expects that number to “drop dramatically” during the strike as a result of service closures and restrictions.
At Providence Seaside, the health system is rescheduling all elective surgeries and stopping all admissions of patients needing “step-down care” — which refers to care in between an acute hospital stay and home/residential care.
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Of the three facilities involved in the strike, Providence Home Health and Hospice care for the most patients. The home health division cares for an average of 2,300 patients per day and the hospice unit cares for an average of 420 patients per day. Providence is bringing in replacement nurses to fill in for those who will be on strike, and “new patients will be accepted as the team is able,” the health system said.
ONA began negotiating contracts with Providence in the fall of last year. Earlier this month, nurses at all three Oregon facilities voted to authorize strikes. After a failed round of bargaining that was facilitated by a federal mediator, the union issued strike notices June 8. The union’s strike will begin on June 19.
During the months-long negotiation process, Providence said it offered a combined $35 million package for the first year of contracts at the three facilities. This package includes double-digit salary raises for nurses at Providence Portland and Providence Seaside in the first year, the health system said in a June 14 press release.
In a press release of its own issued on the same day, the ONA challenged Providence’s statements.
“Providence has, yet again, completely missed the point,” the union said. “Providence continues to focus exclusively on wages when, in fact, nurses and clinicians are focused on improving patient care, addressing historic unsafe staffing levels throughout the Providence system, and addressing serious patient concerns.”
The ONA argued that the health system “refuses to address” staffing shortages and the resulting patient safety concerns in its hospitals, as well as the “excessive caseload requirements” placed on nurses working in patients’ homes. The union also said that Providence “has made little effort” to address nurses’ concerns around paid time off.
“If Providence truly wanted to prioritize patient care, they would be negotiating this week, not directing nurses and clinicians to pre-cancel next week’s visits and procedures, delaying care for vulnerable patients for at least one full week, moving fragile newborns to new locations, and failing to replace occupational therapists or speech language pathologists,” the ONA said.
The strike is slated to last five days. After the strike, Providence said it plans to return to the bargaining table.
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