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 Brookshire, 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).
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.
