NYSNA Nurses Push Back on Potential Hospital Closures Across New York State

Hospitals across New York State are beginning to feel the impacts of the cuts to federal healthcare laid out by the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” act—and NYSNA nurses are fighting back to ensure that their communities maintain access to the safe, quality care they need.  

On Tuesday, April 28, NYSNA nurses from North Star/Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center traveled to Albany to hold a briefing for legislators, where they spoke on the critical need to improve rural healthcare. The recent cuts to federal healthcare funding, they said, have only made an existing crisis worse. Earlier this year, North Star Health Alliance, the hospital group that manages Carthage and Claxton-Hepburn, filed for bankruptcy, and announced potential service cuts and closures at both facilities.  

NYSNA nurses, already too familiar with the difficulties their patients face in the North Country, immediately took action to push back and successfully advocated for the funds necessary to keep their hospitals open. Nurses know that it will take more than stabilization funds to repair the damage done to healthcare in the North Country, and they organized the legislative briefing to keep the fight going.  

From the North Country to Albany to Brooklyn

In New York City, NYSNA nurses recently faced a similar fight at The Brooklyn Hospital Center (TBHC). Earlier this year, hospital executives at TBHC stopped making payments for nurses’ health and pension benefits, citing a lack of funds. Nurses continued working and caring for patients without health benefits, while fighting for the health coverage they need to keep themselves, their families and their patients safe. After months of advocacy, TBHC finally paid nurses’ benefits in full, restoring their healthcare coverage and pensions.  

In April, NYSNA nurses from Albany Medical Center joined 1199SEIU healthcare workers to hold a speak-out to push back on a proposal to reduce beds and services at Albany Med Health System’s Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson, NY. As the only hospital in Columbia and Greene counties, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers rely on Columbia for access to healthcare services. A reduction in services at the facility would force residents of Columbia and Greene counties to rely on Albany Medical Center for care, undoubtedly putting strain on a hospital that already has some of the longest ER wait times in the country.  

A Statewide Fight  

While federal cuts to healthcare funding are impacting safety-net and community hospitals across New York State, hospital management cannot cut costs on the backs of frontline caregivers or the vulnerable communities they serve. The solution to decreased funding is not stripping nurses of critical benefits or further reducing access to care for rural communities. In the face of these cuts, hospital executives must work harder to protect the health and safety of patients and nurses, not make short-sighted cuts at the expense of everyday New Yorkers.  

State legislators must also prioritize fair funding for New York’s public, safety-net and rural hospitals and improving access to care for all New Yorkers in the face of federal attacks. NYSNA members are headed back to Albany this week to lobby for sustainable hospital funding, New York for All to ensure our hospitals remain places of safety and healing for immigrant patients, and more. NYSNA nurses will not back down when cuts to healthcare funding threaten the health and safety of our colleagues, our families, and our communities!