Over the last decade, especially in my roles as lead nurse for the now-closed PeaceHealth Urgent Care Gateway, and more recently as staff nurse at RiverBend Emergency Department from 2019-2024, I have watched PeaceHealth methodically frustrate the delivery of health care to our community.
First, PeaceHealth closed two of their urgent care facilities. Then, they closed the University District hospital. No strategic plan was offered for restructuring, reorganizing or collaborating to maintain a reasonable service capacity for Eugene, Springfield and the surrounding areas. All the while, primary care was left a meager afterthought, with patient waitlists growing. Then there was a round of layoffs. And then another. And then another.
As a concerned member of the patient-facing staff at RiverBend, I joined committees and connected with middle and upper management, asked questions, spoke up and talked to former colleagues who had moved on or up in the PeaceHealth ranks. Not once did I meet someone who was working as hard as we were on the front lines to find new ways to solve the very practical problems of exploding patient volumes, boarding in the emergency department, poor staffing and a shortage of beds and equipment…