In solidarity, RNs at five other Prime Healthcare hospitals in four states to sympathy strike or picket

Registered nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois, will hold a strike for one day on September 15 to protest the administration’s retaliation against nurses who speak up and fight for their patients, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the nation. Prime Healthcare management suspended six nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital and one nurse at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, and fired six nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago.

Since the suspension of the Olympia Fields and Saint Francis nurses, two of the suspended Olympia Fields 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.

In solidarity with nurses at Olympia Fields, nurses at two Prime hospitals will hold informational pickets that same day on September 15: Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. Also, nurses and health care workers at three Prime hospitals in two states will hold sympathy strikes that day: RNs at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev. and West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California, and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, California. In total, more than 2,800 nurses and health care workers will be either striking or picketing on September 15.

“We are striking to protest Prime Healthcare’s unlawful suspension of nurses and firing of nurses at Olympia Fields and at Saint Francis Hospital,” said Jen Peterson, RN in the outpatient surgery unit at Olympia Fields Hospital. “We will be out on the strike line to demand that Prime reinstate the suspended and fired nurses and to reinstate the nurses fired at Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago.”

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.

Olympia Fields strike

• Who:    Registered nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital

• What:   Strike to protest suspension of six Olympia Fields RNs and one St. Francis RN

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

• Where: Olympia Fields Hospital, 20201 South Crawford Ave. Olympia Fields, Illinois.

Saint Mary informational picket

• Who:    Registered nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital (Chicago)
• What:   Picket in solidarity with Olympia Fields nurses
• When:  Tuesday, September 15, 7-10 a.m.
• Where: Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital, 2233 W Division Street, Chicago, IL, 60622

“We will be picketing in solidarity with our colleagues on strike at Olympia Fields,” said Kyle Schutter, RN in the emergency department at Saint Mary of Nazareth. “We are demanding that Prime reinstate the suspended and fired nurses and to reinstate the six nurses at Saint Mary’s who were fired this summer. We are proud to take collective action with nurses across the country and stand up against Prime’s unlawful actions.”

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, N.V.; 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 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.