HCA nurses from across the country rally in Florida

By Lucy Diavolo

National Nurse magazine - Oct | Nov | Dec 2023 Issue

In late November, more than 100 registered nurses from HCA facilities across the country held a rally outside of HCA’s West Florida Division Office in Tampa, Fla.

Nurses said their protest was intended to send a message to management about nurse unity and solidarity in the face of mismanagement at their hospitals across the country, and it came ahead of a wave of union contract expirations next year. In 2024, NNOC/NNU nurses at several HCA facilities will begin bargaining new union contracts as their current agreements reach the end of their terms. Nurses say contract negotiations will be an opportunity to address the same issues they raised at the rally.

“HCA is the largest hospital system in the United States, so the standards they set have impacts across health care in the United States, which is why nurses are so disturbed by the way they handle their business,” said Marissa Lee, RN at HCA Florida Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla. and a CNA/NNOC board member. “When you’re setting standards for the entire industry, you should be continually raising the bar, not digging yourself a deeper hole to bury it in.”

“When it comes to staffing, when it comes to recruitment and retention, when it comes to all these ridiculous technological schemes that only make it harder for nurses to provide high-quality patient care, HCA is failing us and our patients,” said Cheryl Rodarmel, RN at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. “We’re so excited to stand alongside our union siblings from HCA hospitals nationwide to let management know we’re standing together through thick and through thin.”

Lucy Diavolo is a communications specialist at National Nurses United.