(The following edited press release came from Megan Carlson who manages communications at the Illinois Nurses Association.)<\/p>\n
JOIIET, IL \u2014 The future of St. Joseph\u2019s Medical Center in Joliet is in danger, according to registered nurses at the hospital who are represented by the Illinois Nurses Association. <\/p>\n
At a press conference on Monday, the nurses demanded accountability and answers for why the company has repeatedly cut services and implemented unsafe staffing changes since acquiring St. Joseph\u2019s in March of 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrime buys up small hospitals and cuts everything that isn\u2019t making them money. Communities are left without health care,\u201d said Amber Velasquez, a cardiac nurse at St.
Joseph\u2019s and elected union steward. \u201cWe\u2019re worried about the future of our hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nurses warned that recent changes at St. Joseph\u2019s may signal worse to come, citing Prime Healthcare\u2019s history of cutting unprofitable services at acquired hospitals, closing
units, and even shuttering entire hospitals. At Suburban Community Hospital in Pennsylvania, Prime repeatedly slashed services and instituted layoffs until all that was
left was one outpatient behavioral clinic in a hospital that once had a capacity of over 200 beds.<\/p>\n
Despite testifying to the Health Facilities and Services Review Board (HFSRB) that there would be no loss of service upon acquiring St. Joseph\u2019s, Prime Healthcare has repeatedly reduced, suspended, or eliminated services, while also cutting staff levels across the hospital since March 2025:<\/p>\n
May 2025: Prime indefinitely \u201csuspended\u201d all inpatient pediatric care\u2014the only such services in all Joliet. The unit has remained unopened.May 2025: Prime effectively increased patient assignments for RNs in the Physical Medical Rehabilitation unit to 7 patients per nurse (INA recommends
safe staffing ratio of 1:4 in these units).July 2025- March 2026: Prime closed a 30-bed \u201cAcute Care for the Elderly\u201d unitFeb. 2026: Prime again increased nurse to patient ratios, despite nurses and physicians\u2019 safety objections. Almost every unit saw ratios increase by 1-2 patients.March 2026: Prime closed a Post-Surgical unit indefinitely.April 2026: Prime introduced a staffing change requiring RNs to split patient care with nurses operating at lower licensure levels. This effectively doubles the number of patients being cared for under some RNs\u2019 licenses. <\/p>\n
Although St. Joseph is licensed for 489 beds, the hospital only runs 185-195 due to Prime\u2019s lack of investment in services they claim the community does not need.
Due to these conditions, more than 110 nurses have left St. Joseph’s since Prime took over the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrime\u2019s actions are \u2018death by a thousand cuts\u2019 for the patients and staff at St. Joseph\u2019s,\u201d said Cathie Wolff, a dialysis nurse at St. Joseph\u2019s and INA board representative. \u201cWe have to defend our hospital before it\u2019s too late.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAcross Illinois, we\u2019re already seeing the consequences of Prime cutting critical services that patients rely on every day: delaying care, reducing access, and putting lives at risk.
We cannot allow corporate decisions to hollow out our healthcare system,\u201d said State Senator Karina Villa, who will be advocating this week in Springfield for a bill to hold
companies like Prime accountable. \u201cHB 4757 will restore accountability and ensure patients, not profits, come first, by protecting access to the care our communities
depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The INA, which represents 584 nurses at St. Joseph\u2019s, has filed federal charges against Prime for failing to answer questions about the impact of staff and service changes on nurses and patients. Nurses are now calling on the community to demand Prime stop closing units and invest in their local hospital. Community members can sign the petition at bit.ly\/HoldPrimeAccountable.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The following edited press release came from Megan Carlson who manages communications at the Illinois Nurses Association.) JOIIET,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-623887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}