National Nurses United

14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 4 NEWS BRIEFS NATIONAL H annah drummond, a registered nurse at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., appeared at a U.S. Senate subcommittee field hear- ing hosted by Sen. Ed Markey in Boston, Mass., on April 3. Drummond is the chief nurse representative at Mission Hospital and a member of National Nurses Organiz- ing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United. At this field hearing of the Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcom- mittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, Drummond was featured among several witnesses speak- ing to the ways corporate greed endangers patient care and health care workers, some- thing Drummond has direct experience with as an employee of HCA, the largest for-profit health care system in the country. "My experience at Mission is representa- tive of the decisions being made at HCA-owned hospitals across the country, which are being stripped of staff and essen- tial services like nurseries, behavioral health, and trauma centers, leaving vulnera- ble communities without access to critical health services," said Drummond at the hearing. "Health care should not be a busi- ness. That's why nurses across this country support a single-payer Medicare for All sys- tem that will transform our profit-driven health care system into one that prioritizes patient care." To see Drummond's remarks, visit the Senate hearing page. Nurses at Mission Hospital voted to join NNOC in 2020, the year after the HCA takeover, resulting in the largest hospital union victory in the south in decades at the time. Since then, Mission nurses success- fully negotiated their first contract while remaining vocal and steadfast advocates for their patients and the entire Asheville and western North Carolina community. Advo- cacy by Mission nurses was instrumental in prompting both state and federal actions to investigate HCA's practices at Mission, including the North Carolina attorney gen- eral's lawsuit against HCA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' tempo- rary determination of immediate jeopardy for patients at the facility. NNOC represents roughly 1,500 regis- tered nurses at Mission Hospital. Nurses at Mission Hospital are among more than 10,000 NNOC/NNU nurses negotiating new contracts with HCA this year. 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 hospi- tals. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, HCA has reported over $31.7 billion in profits since 2018 and execu- tive compensation totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. HCA co-founder and major shareholder Thomas Frist, Jr., who has extensive experi- ence serving as an executive at HCA, currently ranks at 32 in the Forbes 400 Richest Americans and at 57 in Bloomberg Billionaire Index of the world's 500 richest people, with an estimated net worth of nearly $30 billion. —Lucy Diavolo Union nurse testifies at U.S. Senate field hearing Mission Hospital RN appeared as a witness before the HELP Committee

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