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News Release

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. 
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,

TODAY: Nurses And Families Rally To Save Samaritan Birth Centers In Linn And Lincoln Counties May 21 (Photo) -05/21/25

Nurses, patients, and community leaders are calling on Samaritan Health Services’ board of directors to keep hospital birth centers open at Samaritan hospitals in Lebanon and North Lincoln and protect residents’ access to local healthcare. 

WHAT: Rally to save birth centers at Samaritan hospitals in Lebanon and Lincoln City and protect essential local healthcare services.
WHERE: Samaritan Health Plan Building (2300 NW Walnut Blvd. Corvallis, OR) 
WHEN: Rally is Wednesday, May 21 at 1:30 p.m.; Board meeting to follow at 2:15 p.m.
WHO: Local nurses, patients, families and community leaders
 
CORVALLIS, Ore. - On Wednesday, May 21, at 1:30 p.m.,  nurses, patients and community members will hold a public rally outside the Samaritan Health Plan Building (2300 NW Walnut Blvd. Corvallis) ahead of Samaritan Health Services’ scheduled board of directors meeting. Nurses and community allies are rallying to save the birth centers at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital and prevent cuts to other local health services.
 
Samaritan executives are considering closing both birth centers and eliminating Lebanon’s emergency surgery team along with other essential healthcare cuts.
 
The proposed cuts would compromise access to health care for more than 180,000 residents in Linn and Lincoln Counties.
 
Closing birth centers has become a dangerous trend in the U.S. Despite a rising maternal mortality rate, more than 500 hospitals in the U.S. have closed their labor and delivery departments since 2010. 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.
 
In addition to delivering babies, healthcare providers at Samaritan's hospital birth centers offer 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. Community members have relied on the essential birth services provided at Lebanon for more than 80 years.
 
Samaritan executives’ ‘re-imagining’ of its local health services has already drawn criticism from patients and families, nurses and health care providers, and community leaders. More than 2,500 people have signed an online petition to save Lebanon’s birth center and more than 12,400 emails have been sent to Samaritan’s corporate executives and board of directors asking them to save local birth centers and keep essential health services open in Lebanon and Lincoln City.
 
Wednesday’s rally is a public, family-friendly event. Community members are encouraged to join.
Attached Media Files: Local nurses and patients are calling on Samaritan Health Systems’ executives and board of directors to save birth centers and keep essential health services open at Samaritan’s hospitals in Lebanon and Lincoln City. Photo Courtesy of Kevin Mealy, Oregon Nurses Association,

Oregon Nurses Association Blasts Federal Decision To Eliminate CDC Infection-Control Committee -05/07/25

TUALATIN, Ore. — The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) condemns the Trump administration’s sudden move to dissolve the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). According to a May 6, 2025, report from NBC News, committee members learned last week that their 30-year-old panel had been terminated, despite having produced hundreds of evidence-based guidelines that hospitals and clinics rely on every day to keep patients and caregivers safe. Further coverage in The Hill confirmed the action is part of a broader effort to shrink public-health oversight.

HICPAC’s recommendations form the backbone of infection-prevention practices in Oregon and across the nation, informing everything from isolation protocols and hand-hygiene standards to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). The committee’s work is indispensable to nurses who confront antibiotic-resistant bacteria, seasonal surges of respiratory illness, and potential future pandemics. Its abrupt removal strips health-care facilities of the expert playbook they need to stop minor infections from becoming deadly outbreaks.

“Healthcare workers remember what happens when politics overrides science,” said ONA President Tamie Cline, RN. “Eliminating HICPAC will drive up infection rates, prolong hospital stays, increase costs, and, most importantly, cost lives. Calling the committee ‘unnecessary’ insults every nurse and caregiver who has fought to keep patients safe through COVID-19 surges, RSV spikes, and emergent superbugs.”

ONA calls on President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CDC acting director Susan Monarez to immediately reinstate HICPAC and fully fund its critical work. HICPAC and other essential advisory panels must remain free from extreme political interference. 

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ONA Statement On Announcement Of Termination Of OHSU/Legacy Merger Plans -05/05/25

Portland, Ore. - In the fall of 2023, OHSU and Legacy announced they intended to merge into Oregon’s largest healthcare system. The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) and our partners in labor supported the deal because, ultimately, we believed it would lead to better working conditions for frontline caregivers and high standards for patient care. 

This morning, we learned that OHSU and Legacy have mutually agreed to end their deal to merge. While we are disappointed with their decision to terminate the deal, this will not impact ONA’s ongoing work to organize frontline caregivers and fight for fair contracts that prioritize workers and patients over profits. 

In recent years, thousands of Legacy employees have been organizing unions to have a voice in their workplace, including in January when more than 2,300 Legacy nurses voted to join ONA. 

No matter who the employer is, ONA members will continue to advocate for all frontline caregivers, their patients, and a stronger healthcare system in Oregon. 

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The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) represents a diverse community of more than 23,000 nurses and healthcare professionals throughout Oregon. Together, we use our collective power to advocate for critical issues impacting patients, nurses and healthcare professionals including a more effective, affordable and accessible healthcare system; better working conditions for all healthcare professionals; and healthier communities. For more information visit www.OregonRN.org.