Hospital attorney notified nurses they would be disciplined for peaceful May 8 protest

Mount Desert Island Hospital (MDIH) registered nurses are refusing to back down from their efforts to save Bar Harbor’s obstetrics unit, despite intimidation tactics by the hospital’s CEO and attorneys, announced Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC).

On May 12, in response to nurses exercising their right to protest, MDIH attorneys sent a letter notifying five OB nurses that they had been given written warnings. MSNA/NNOC President Cokie Giles, RN, provided the following statement:

“MSNA stands squarely with these nurses who are facing extreme retaliation from CEO Chrissi Maguire.

“Instead of working with nurses toward solutions that could save Bar Harbor’s obstetrics unit, MDI Hospital’s management is resorting to lowbrow tactics. Labelling a peaceful assembly of nurses and community members as an ‘unruly mob’ is an attempt to distract from the community’s overwhelming opposition to their reckless and dangerous decision.

“Nurses are fighting for Bar Harbor’s patients and their community recognizes this. We are grateful for all of the community members who are in this fight with us and ask for your continued support in keeping up the pressure – it’s working clearly, and we will win this fight.”

Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide.