TODAY: Nurses Rally For A Fair Contract As Samaritan Considers Cutting Birth Centers, May 27 (Photo) -05/27/25
MEDIA ADVISORY: TUESDAY, MAY 27
Nurses and community members are rallying to win fair contracts at two Samaritan hospitals and protect local residents’ access to healthcare as Samaritan considers cuts.
WHAT: Rally for a fair contract and to defend residents’ access to healthcare at Samaritan hospitals from the Mid-Valley to the coast.
WHERE: Samaritan Health Services corporate headquarters (815 NW 9th St. Corvallis, OR)
WHEN: Tuesday, May 27 from 4 - 6 p.m. Speeches at approximately 4:45 p.m.
WHO: More than 100 nurses, patients, families, and other healthcare providers.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Frontline healthcare providers are holding a public rally Tuesday, May 27 from 4 - 6 p.m. outside Samaritan Health Services corporate headquarters in Corvallis (815 NW 9th St. Corvallis, OR). Nurses are fighting for fair contracts at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center–Samaritan’s flagship hospital in Corvallis–and Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital while leading public opposition to Samaritan’s reported proposals to cut birthing centers at hospitals in Lebanon and Lincoln City and eliminate Lebanon’s emergency surgery team among other cuts.
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) represents more than 700 registered nurses across the two hospitals as well as nurses at Samaritan Albany General Hospital and Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport.
Samaritans’ proposed cuts would compromise access to health care for more than 180,000 residents in Linn and Lincoln Counties and continue a dangerous trend of closing birth centers. Since 2019, Oregon health systems closed birth centers at hospitals in Redmond, Baker City and Gresham. Following public outcry and state intervention, Legacy was forced to reopen its birth center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham shortly after closing. Despite a rising maternal mortality rate, more than 500 hospitals in the U.S. have closed their labor and delivery departments since 2010.
Nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital have provided essential birth services in Lebanon for more than 80 years and provide specialized pre- and post-birth care including childbirth classes, lactation support, regular testing for moms and babies with significant health risks and care up to a month after delivery.
The community has rallied to defend the birth centers with U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (OR-04), among those publicly calling on Samaritan Health Services to maintain rural and coastal Oregonians’ full access to labor and delivery services.
Local nurses at both Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital have also been meeting with Samaritan executives since February to bargain new contracts. Nurses have been advocating for safe staffing and fair wages to recruit and retain nurses in the mid-Willamette Valley; affordable health care for local caregivers and their families; and safe workplaces that meet the needs of patients and providers.
Nurses’ contracts at Good Samaritan and Samaritan Lebanon expire June 30, 2025.
- Community members can email Samaritan decisionmakers here to ask them to save local birth centers and preserve access to essential care.
Tuesday’s rally is a public, family-friendly event. Community members are encouraged to join.
Media members are encouraged to attend to capture the voices and stories of frontline nurses and patients and inform the community about changing healthcare conditions at their local hospitals.
Attached Media Files:
Nurses and patients led an impromptu rally to save hospital birth centers in Lebanon and Lincoln City outside Samaritan Health Services’ board of directors meeting May 21, 2025. Photos courtesy of Kevin Mealy, Oregon Nurses Association.,
SamRally_2025-05-21_low.JPG,
SamRally_2025-05-21_3_low.JPG,
