Nurses will rally Aug. 31 against a planned closure of the neonatal intensive care unit.

Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) in Watsonville, California, will hold a rally on Monday, Aug. 31, to protest the Watsonville Community Hospital Administration and Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board of Supervisor’s closure of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) services. Nurses at WCH are represented by California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

“Vulnerable newborns and their families rely on our public safety net hospital,” said Roseann Farris, RN from Watsonville in the critical care unit. “Nurses are calling on the administration and Hospital Board to reverse this decision, invest in staffing, and immediately reopen our NICU. Our community deserves a fully functioning hospital with access to life-saving care. Nurses took an oath to advocate for our patients, and we will not be silent when their health is put at risk.”

Who:    Watsonville Community Hospital nurses

What:   Reopen our NICU Speak Out and press conference

When:  Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, 12 p.m.

Where: Watsonville Community Hospital, 75 Nielson St., Watsonville, California

The sudden closure of the NICU puts the lives of newborns at serious risk. In July, Watsonville nurses had multiple meetings with hospital management and Interim CEO Tim Moran to discuss the planned closure. The nurses also held a Speak Out at the hospital’s monthly Board of Directors’ meeting on July 29 to urge the District to put patients before profits and reopen the NICU for our community’s vulnerable newborns.

This is the latest blow to patient care at the facility. WCH administration has merged some units and threatened to close others. The NICU closure is the newest and perhaps most alarming service shutdown yet.

The only other full service acute care hospital in Santa Cruz County is Dignity Health’s Dominican Hospital, leaving WCH patients with only one option for NICU care in the county. The next closest options are in Monterrey, creating transportation time that could threaten patients.

The county’s agricultural workers, many immigrants and low-income, will be left without access to maternal care services in their vicinity without the WCH NICU on top of existing service cuts such as the merger of medical surgical and telemetry units or the closure of critical care unit services. CNA union nurses are taking a stand to ensure equal care and access is maintained.

CNA/NNU represents approximately 300 registered nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.