Nurses at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center overwhelmingly vote to unionize

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Nurses at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham overwhelmingly voted to join the Oregon Nurses Association on Thursday.

According to ONA, joining the union, which is the state's largest nursing organization, will help the 360 nurses at the hospital "protect their community’s access to safe, high-quality health care; restore respect for frontline workers in the Legacy Health System; and gain a voice in decisions which impact their community’s health and welfare."

“As nurses, our community counts on us to deliver and advocate for the safest, highest-quality care," said Aster Wolfe, an ICU nurse at Legacy Mount Hood. "Unionizing gives us the voice at the table that we deserve as professionals. We look forward to working collaboratively for safer staffing and sound clinical reasoning in decisions that affect our workplace and patients.”

The vote comes weeks after the hospital closed its Family Birth Center without Oregon Health Authority's approval. OHA ultimately rejected that request as the center is the sole hospital birthplace in Gresham and serves more women needing urgent obstetrical care than any other Legacy hospital.

OHA opened an investigation into the closure and said it told Legacy it needed state approval to shut down the birthing center prior to its unauthorized closure on March 17.

Legacy claimed it shut down the birthing center due to staffing issues and put a “divert status” in place, directing future patients to Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland or the local ER.