RNs demand serious proposals to improve staffing, nurse retention

Nurses from HCA-owned Research Medical Center and Menorah Medical Center will rally on June 26 to protest HCA’s failure to seriously address their staffing and nurse retention crises in contract negotiations. Nurses are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in Missouri or Kansas, you deserve the best from HCA. That’s what we’re asking for as nurses, for ourselves and for our patients,” said Jessica Wheat, RN in the labor and delivery/postpartum unit at Research Medical Center. “Improving safety at the hospital for us and the conditions we work in improves the conditions patients are cared for in, and that’s what we’re fighting for.”

The nurses’ most recent contracts at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas, expired May 31. But, in bargaining sessions to date, nurses report that HCA has refused to address chronic and systemic problems such as short staffing and lack of resources that undermine and jeopardize patient care.

Who: Nurses at HCA’s Research and Menorah Medical Centers
What: Protest to demand a strong contract
When: Wednesday, June 26, 5:45 p.m.
Where: Research Medical Center, 2316 Meyer Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri; on the Meyer Blvd sidewalk, just south of the hospital’s main entrance

“Staffing remains a serious issue at our hospital, and that has impacts on patient care,” said Ashley Richmond, RN in the surgical specialty unit at Menorah Medical Center. “We’re fighting for better staffing, measures to retain our nurses, and basic things like making sure nurses get our meal and rest breaks and adequate rest time after long hours on mandatory on-call shifts in the surgical services units. We know these are issues at HCA facilities across the country, and nurses are fighting to fix them.”

HCA, the largest health system in the country, advertises over 180 hospitals in its network. The company self-reported over $5.2 billion in profits in 2023 but regularly shuts down vital health services at its hospitals. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, HCA has reported over $31.7 billion in profits since 2018 and executive compensation totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

HCA co-founder and major shareholder Thomas Frist Jr., who has extensive experience serving as an executive at HCA, currently ranks in the top 75 of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans and the top 60 of the Bloomberg Billionaire Index of the world’s 500 richest people, with an estimated net worth of nearly $30 billion.

NNOC/NNU represents more than 1,000 nurses at Research and Menorah Medical Centers in the Kansas City area and nearly 10,000 nurses at HCA facilities nationwide. NNOC/NNU nurses are currently negotiating new contracts at 17 HCA hospitals in six states.

National Nurses Organizing Committee is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates also include California Nurses Association, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.