The Washington State Nurses Association today filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington requesting reconsideration of the precipitous closure of Astria Regional Medical Center. Within just a few hours of receiving the motion, the bankruptcy judge granted a hearing to consider our request for reconsideration.

We need all nurses and community members to pack this hearing to demonstrate our outrage and showcase the impact of this decision on our community and our nurses.

Emergency Motion Hearing

Tuesday, January 14, 9:30am

U.S. Bankruptcy Court

402 E. Yakima Ave.

Tower Building, 2^nd floor courtroom

WSNA’s motion contends that Astria failed to give WSNA and other interested parties adequate notice or the opportunity to present arguments in its secret decision, giving nurses and other staff at Astria Regional only five days’ notice of their immediate termination. In addition, the sudden closure leaves the Yakima Valley with a serious gap in the availability of heart surgery and emergency services in addition to little time to move existing patients.

We do not believe a week’s notice is sufficient for Virginia Mason Memorial and other local resources to absorb the increased demand for health care caused by the court’s decision to expedite the loss of health care services that Regional provided to the community. With the loss of Yakima Regional’s emergency room, Memorial can expect to see a nearly 40% increase in volume, according to Medicare.gov data, with only a weeks’ notice to absorb the surge. This is particularly problematic as winter weather leads to increased car accidents on I-82.

Our next step is to meet with hospital administration to bargain over the affects of the shut down and termination of our nurses. We are working to schedule the bargaining for next week. In order to hear your concerns and to provide the most up to date information on next steps as well as resources to support you, we are holding an emergency local unit meeting.

URGENT Local unit meeting

Monday, January 13

1 - 3 p.m.

Hilton Garden Inn at 401 E Yakima Ave

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Jayson Dick at jayson.dick@wsna.org.