RNs in California and Nevada to sympathy strike, RNs in Illinois and Maine to picket

Registered nurses at three Prime Healthcare hospitals in two states — Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada; West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California; and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California — will hold a sympathy strike for one day on September 15 in solidarity with nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois who are striking on the same day to protest the suspension of six nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the nation.

Since the suspension of the Olympia Fields nurses, two of the suspended nurses have been fired as well as a nurse at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, and three nurses at Central Maine Medical Center have been suspended — all for speaking up for their patients. Earlier this summer, Prime Healthcare management fired six nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago.

Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago, and at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, will hold informational pickets in solidarity with Olympia Fields RNs on the same day. In total, more than 2,800 nurses and health care workers will be either striking or picketing on September 15.

“We are proud to be striking in sympathy with our brave RN colleagues at Olympia Fields Hospital,” said Michelle Gaffney, RN in the intensive care unit at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California “Prime must stop its unlawful activities and reinstate the nurses it has suspended or fired for speaking up for patients. We will continue to demand justice for our nurses until Prime does the right thing.”

Redding, California facility 

• Who:    Registered nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center (Redding)

• What:   One-day sympathy strike in solidarity with Olympia Fields Hospital nurses

• When:  Tuesday, September 15, 6 a.m. to September 16, 5:59 a.m.

• Where: Shasta Regional Medical Center, 1100 Butte St. Redding CA

Anaheim, California facility

• Who:    Registered nurses at West Anaheim Medical Center (Anaheim)

• What:   One-day sympathy strike in solidarity with Olympia Fields Hospital nurses

• When:  Tuesday, September 15, 7 a.m to September 16, 6:59 a.m.

• Where: West Anaheim Medical Center, 3033 W. Orange Ave., Anaheim CA

Reno, Nevada facility

• Who:    Registered nurses at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Reno)

• What:   One-day sympathy strike in solidarity with Olympia Fields Hospital nurses

• When:  Tuesday, September 15, 6:45 am to September 16, 6:44 a.m.

• Where: Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, 235 W. 6th St. Reno NV,

Nurses across the country are organizing and speaking up systemwide against Prime Healthcare because Prime endangers patients and nurses by putting profits above all else. RNs at three Prime Healthcare facilities, Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois, Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, filed union election petitions on August 24 because they know that only through unionization can they force Prime to address their concerns about patient care and safe staffing.

On September. 3, nurses at four Prime hospitals across three states — West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California; Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada; Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago, Illinois and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California — held one-day strikes to protest Prime’s refusal to address their deep concerns about patient care and safe staffing. Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth voted to join NNOC in June.

Nurses in Nevada, Illinois, and Maine are represented or seeking representation by NNOC. NNOC represents 9,000 nurses in Chicagoland, including RNs at Cook County Health, UChicago, and the VA. Nurses in California are represented by California Nurses Association, an affiliate of NNU. The health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center are represented by Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union.

The RNs are part of a national union movement to fight for safe staffing and optimal patient care throughout the entire Prime Healthcare system. The suspensions and firing are just one aspect of Prime’s shoddy treatment of its workers. Learn more about Prime’s crimes at crimehealthcare.com.

Prime’s Profiteering

The conditions driving Prime nurses to take unprecedented collective action at their hospitals are part of a broader pattern of Prime negligence and cutting services despite its profits.

Prime has a history of acquiring hospitals and then cutting services after it promised to maintain them. 

• On September 1, 2026, Prime announced that it would suspend obstetric services at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago and consolidate them at Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago and Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood accused Prime of putting “profits over patients” and of having “no plans” to help patients travel miles to receive obstetrics care.
• Less than two months after it acquired St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee, Illinois, in March 2025, Prime shut down the hospital’s obstetrics, gynecology, childbirth and delivery services and voluntarily gave up the facility’s Level II trauma designation, resulting in an injunction filed by the Kankakee County State’s Attorney, claiming that Prime was dishonest about keeping all services open for 18-24 months after acquisition.
• Prime cut services in May 2025 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Illinois and in April 2025 at Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Illinois, soon after acquisition, leading to a letter to Prime CEO Prem Reddy from Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin accusing the company of violating its commitments to maintain services to meet community needs.

Prime greatly benefits financially from Prime Healthcare Foundation, its nonprofit hospital system.

• In 2024, Prime Healthcare Foundation gave more than $104 million in business to firms owned by the Reddy family— Prime Healthcare Services Inc., Prime Healthcare Management, and Bio-Med Services, Inc., according to its Form 990. CEO Prem Reddy is the founder of Prime Healthcare.
• Prime’s nonprofit hospital system only provided $3.5 million in uncompensated charity care for patients in 2024, about 0.4 percent of the foundation’s expenses.
• In 2024, Prime Healthcare Foundation claimed more than $78 million in debts they tried to collect from patients who qualified for charity care.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.