Serious recent incidents underscore nurses’ longstanding demands for protections against workplace violence

Nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals in Wichita, Kan., will hold a one-day strike on July 6 to protest the administration’s refusal to address RNs’ well-documented concerns about patient safety and workplace violence protection as part of contract negotiations, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) today. 

Nurses have experienced increasing and extremely serious incidents of workplace violence against staff and far too many threats against both patients and staff — including a grenade found on Easter. Throughout negotiations, RNs have asked that Ascension take the nurses’ demands for workplace violence protections seriously and implement commonsense measures to protect staff and patients. 

“We have been sounding the alarm and calling for weapons detection systems for years, but the administration has refused to listen,” said Carol Samsel, RN in the critical care unit at St. Joseph. “We need a simple metal detector to prevent guns and other weapons from getting inside the hospital.” 

Who: Registered nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals
What: One-day strike for patient and staff safety as part of a fair contract
When: Monday, July 6, 7 a.m. to Tuesday, July 7, 6:59 a.m.
Where: St. Francis Hospital, 929 N. St. Francis St., NE corner of Murdock and St. Francis
St. Joseph Hospital, 3600 E. Harry St., NE corner of Harry and Clifton

This strike notice follows a nearly unanimous strike authorization vote on June 23 at both hospitals. Nurses have given 10-days’ advance notice to hospital management to ensure adequate plans are made for patient care during the one-day strike.  

St. Francis and St. Joseph nurses have been in negotiations since March 2026 for a new contract with little to no movement on key issues around safe staffing and protections. The RNs urge management to invest in nursing staff and agree to enforceable contract language that provides: 

• Workplace violence protection measures 
• Safe staffing  
• Retention of experienced RNs 

“Nurses and other health care workers should not feel scared to come to work at our hospitals,” said Shelly Rader, RN in the emergency department at St. Francis. “Our hospitals should be places of refuge and healing for our patients.” 

“We call upon Ascension to do the right thing and provide for the safety of patients and staff before tragedy strikes,” said Marvin Ruckle, an RN in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Joseph.

RNs at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph unionized in 2022 and 2023, and won a historic first contract in 2024.  During current negotiations, RNs held an informational picket at St. Francis on May 1, 2026, as part of ongoing negotiations. 

NNOC/NNUNational Nurses Organizing Committee represents nearly 1,200 nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph. 

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.