'Reckless, Cruel': Nurses Sound Alarm Over Major Cuts At Pottstown Hospital

POTTSTOWN, PA —Nurses, healthcare workers, and advocates from around the community gathered at Pottstown Hospital Monday morning in a stand against the latest cuts from the owner, Tower Health, which they described as devastating.

Tower Health announced 350 layoffs at its facilities earlier this month, including 131 in Pottstown. They've also eliminated the intensive care unit, the McGlinn Cancer Institute, and their endoscopy center.

Related: Pottstown Hospital Staff Cut As Tower Health Lays Off 350 Employees

"These aren’t just lines on a balance sheet, they represent the absolute gutting of essential hospital services that local families depend on," a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) said in a statement.

Tower Health said that all healthcare systems across the country are facing "major headwinds," and that the cuts they made will allow them to reinvest in other initiatives like growing their provider network, AI, and technology adoption.

"These difficult decisions were not made lightly," a spokesperson for Tower Health told Patch. "They were made out of necessity to ensure that we can chart our own pathway forward and continue serving our communities. Our commitment to award-winning, high-quality care and patient safety remains unwavering."

The union said that staff were notified of the cuts in an "infuriatingly tone deaf, pro forma email."

“At a time when communities need more access to care, not less, slashing services and laying off skilled caregivers isn’t just reckless, it’s cruel,” nurse Maureen May, the president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), said in a statement. “These service cuts will deepen healthcare disparities, force patients to travel farther for essential treatment, and leave caregivers and families in crisis. This community deserves better.”

On Monday morning, PASNAP, which represents 275 nurses at Pottstown Hospital, called on Tower Health to halt the cuts and explore alternatives to help protect jobs and patient care.

Of chief concern to local community, advocates said, is the loss of the ICU. Patients will now need to transferred to get critical care, which the union said could take an additional 45 minutes. In situations like heart attacks or strokes, that could be life-threatening.

The union said its also unclear what will happen to patients currently receiving care in the Cancer Institute. They added that patients have not been given information on where to seek treatment, leaving already stressed patients stuck in nightmare administrative labyrinths.

Tower Health, which also owns Phoenixville Hospital, Reading Hospital, and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, had just come to an agreement with the union representing nurses in August.

“We just finished bargaining for our Union contract with Tower,” nurse Lori Domin, president of Pottstown Nurses United and a longtime Pottstown Hospital 5th Floor Nurse, said in a statement. "A lot of our negotiating revolved around patient safety and patient care. Yet here we are again, fighting for patient safety and patient care."

At the time, both sides said the new contract, which avoided a strike, prioritized recruitment and retention of nurses. Keeping nurses long-term is vital to improving care, the union said.