FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Josh Keller, SEIU MN
612-270-2984
jkeller@seiumn.org
Marisa Powell Zengin, Doctors Council
646-599-6038
mrpdoctorscouncil@gmail.com
Planned closures of ICU and pediatric inpatient beds at Mercy Hospital and Unity Campus follow a pattern of corporate priorities by Allina executives
WATCH: Watch video of today’s press conference with Allina healthcare providers, workers, and community members. [Link]
Last month, Allina executives announced their intent to close Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and surgical services at Mercy Hospital – Unity Campus in Fridley, and to close pediatric inpatient beds at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. This move will eliminate more than 100 full-time equivalent positions for pediatricians, nurses, and other healthcare providers and workers by June.
These closures are likely to leave patients to wait longer for care or travel further to see their doctor, receive medication or an answer to their call light, or to be admitted to a clean bed and hospital room. As a result of these closures, a patient who takes a turn for the worse at Unity Campus might face a $5,000 ambulance ride to Mercy Hospital; and families in Coon Rapids will now have to drive an additional 30 minutes or more to find their child a hospital bed, putting a strain on families juggling work, life, and other demands.
These latest closures follow a pattern of misplaced corporate priorities and callous cuts by Allina Health executives under the leadership of CEO Lisa Shannon. In the last two years, Allina executives closed labor and delivery services at Regina Hospital in Hastings and consolidated it as a campus of United Hospital, more than 20 miles away in St. Paul. Allina executives shuttered adolescent mental health services at United, despite a statewide shortage of mental health beds. And Allina executives continue their race-to-the-bottom on bedside care staff positions, slashing staff levels for the care workers patients depend on across all their hospitals and units.
For dropping the axe on the chopping block of patient care services, Shannon took more than half a million dollars in bonus and incentive pay in 2022, as part of her total compensation of $2.6 million. Healthcare providers and workers urge community members to join the Minnesota Department of Health public hearing on these planned closures on March 26 to provide their feedback directly to Allina executives and state officials, and to sign the petition at unionpedspower.org. Doctors and nurses are also urging Minnesota lawmakers to support a proposed law this year, H.F. 3700/S.F. 4382, which would provide greater public transparency around hospital and service closures by hospital executives.