NYSNA Nurses at Adirondack Medical Center Speak Out for a Fair Contract
For Immediate Release: July 29, 2026
Contact: Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Cara Noel | press@nysna.org | 718-678-9207
NYSNA NURSES AT ADIRONDACK MEDICAL CENTER SPEAK OUT FOR A FAIR CONTRACT
Nurses call for a contract with a plan to recruit and retain nurses, including respectful wages and affordable health benefits for frontline nurses
Saranac Lake, N.Y.– On Wednesday, July 29, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Adirondack Medical Center held a speak-out for a fair contract. The previous contract for nurses at the hospital expired on December 31, 2025, and nurses are demanding a fair contract that ensures safe, quality care for their community and includes the affordable benefits package and respectful wages necessary to recruit and retain experienced nurses.
This is the first time in more than 25 years that Adirondack Medical Center nurses have spoken out or rallied in front of the hospital
Adirondack Medical Center is the last NYSNA-represented hospital in the North Country without the NYSNA Benefit Fund, which will deliver better and more affordable health benefits to nurses. Instead, nurses are forced onto an expensive employer-provided health plan. Nurses report being denied coverage for medically necessary procedures and high co-pays for services not provided at Adirondack.
Bill Schneider, BSN, RN, CCRN, PACU nurse at Adirondack and NYSNA Second Vice President, said: “Our hospital must work harder to draw nurses into our community and keep them here. Saranac Lake is beautiful and the people are welcoming, but other hospitals in the region provide more generous packages. Adirondack can change that by settling a fair contract that includes an affordable benefits package and respectful wages, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.
Denise Velez, RN, lives with a progressive auto-immune condition that may lead to a liver transplant in the future. “If we stay on Adirondack’s medical plan, I will have to make a decision between putting my family into debt to get the medical care I need or, very frankly, dying. I wouldn’t have to make that decision if our health insurance was provided by the NYSNA Benefit Fund.”
Toby Ringland, RN, who has been a nurse for 39 years, said: “Frontline nurses deserve affordable health benefits. We’re the people taking care of our community day in and day out. We’re the people that folks rely on when they get sick. So why should we spend a fortune to keep ourselves healthy – especially when that money goes right back into our employer’s pocket?”
An affordable benefits package that helps to recruit and retain qualified, experienced nurses is a priority for NYSNA members during contract negotiations. Currently, nurses’ only option at Adirondack is an expensive, employer-provided plan. Nurses believe that as frontline healthcare workers, they should have access to the affordable healthcare benefits they need to stay safe and healthy, not a plan that their employer profits from. In addition to being denied coverage and the expensive co-pays, some nurses have reported enrolling their children in the Child Health Plus plan, New York’s state health insurance plan for kids, because Adirondack’s plan is too expensive
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, BSN, RN, CCRN, said: “It’s time for Adirondack Medical Center to listen to its nurses and settle a fair contract that includes an affordable benefits package. Nurses are frontline healthcare workers and need health benefits that will keep them, their families, and their patients safe and healthy.”
Last fall, NYSNA nurses across the North Country launched a coordinated bargaining campaign, demanding contracts that protect nurse and patient safety, and ensure access to care for North Country residents. Nurses at North Star Health Alliance/Carthage Area Hospital, North Star Health Alliance/Claxton-Hepburn Medical Campus, Samaritan Medical Center, University of Vermont Health (UVMH)-Alice Hyde Medical Center, and UVMH-Elizabethtown Community Hospital settled new contracts earlier this year. At Claxton-Hepburn and Elizabethtown, nurses won entry to the NYSNA Benefit Fund for the first time. Adirondack Medical Center is the last remaining NYSNA-represented facility in the North Country where nurses do not have access to the fund. Along with Adirondack nurses, NYSNA members at UVMH-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital continue to bargain for a fair contract.
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The New York State Nurses Association represents approximately 45,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.