TODAY: CVPH Healthcare Workers and Community Unite to Save Adirondack Blood Donor Center
**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, JUNE 30 AT 4 PM**
Contact: Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
CVPH HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND COMMUNITY UNITE TO SAVE ADIRONDACK BLOOD DONOR CENTER
NYSNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals to Hold Speak-Out with Allies and Community to Prevent Closure of Blood Center
After UVMH Announced Layoffs, CVPH NYSNA Members Advocate to Keep Care Local in the North Country, for a Fair Contract with Safe Staffing
Plattsburgh, N.Y.– On Tuesday, June 30, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses and healthcare professionals at University of Vermont Health-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (UVMH-CVPH) will be speaking out against UVMH’s proposed closure of the Adirondack Blood Donation Center. Closing the Center could mean people will lose good jobs, patients may need to spend more time or money to treat chronic blood-related conditions, and hospitals may have less timely access to an adequate blood supply, which is essential in emergencies.
NYSNA members are fighting back against UVMH’s latest disinvestment in healthcare services in New York. They continue to bargain for a fair contract that includes enforceable safe staffing standards to protect safe, quality patient care. They are coming together with the Plattsburgh community to demand UVMH save local healthcare services and negotiate a fair contract with NYSNA nurses and healthcare professionals.
WHO: NYSNA nurses and healthcare professionals, and community, elected and labor allies, including Assembly Member Michael Cashman
WHAT: Speak-out Against the Adirondack Blood Donor Center Closure and for a Fair Contract
WHEN: Tuesday, June 30 at 4 p.m.
WHERE: UVMH-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
214 Cornelia St., Plattsburgh, NY 12901
*Photos and livestream video are available for media use at facebook.com/nynurses*
On June 9, the University of Vermont Health (UVMH) system announced system-wide layoffs and service closures. 142 roles were eliminated, including 30 at Alice Hyde Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, with potentially more to come. In addition to layoffs and service closures, UVMH also announced they intend to close the Adirondack Blood Donor Center on July 10.
The Blood Donor Center supplies 95% of blood used at the health network’s New York hospitals. The Center also provides blood to Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake. Patients in a three-county region rely on the Blood Donor Center. UVMH announced that blood product acquisition will be outsourced to the Red Cross, but their plan is unclear. The closest Red Cross is located in Vermont, across Lake Champlain. In an emergency, blood may need to be transported across or around the lake, or by air.
Nancy Roberts, RN, an Adirondack Blood Donor Center nurse for 20 years and UVM-CVPH nurse for 40 years, said: “In just a few short days, more than 1,000 community members have signed our petition to save the Adirondack Blood Donor Center. We couldn’t be more excited to see the level of community outrage, because, ultimately, this fight is about you – the patients that we work hard to care for day and night. We are demanding that UVM stop bleeding New York dry! Since they took over CVPH and other community hospitals in New York, they have reduced services here in the North Country. We are saying, ‘No more!’"
If the center is allowed to close, nine workers will lose their jobs. The two registered nurses who run the Center have spent decades building relationships with donors in the community and know exactly who to call if a specific blood type is needed.
NYSNA Eastern Regional Director and local NYSNA nurse leader Vicki Davis-Courson, RN, said: “The closure of the Adirondack Blood Donor Center would be terrible for workers and for patients. We are here today fighting for good jobs and great patient care for the North Country!”
Some patients need regular therapeutic blood removal, like those with hemochromatosis. The Center can collect blood donations from these patients via FDA waiver and process it for use at local hospitals. Without the center, these patients will be subject to insurance coverage and may be forced to pay out-of-pocket for blood removal, and local hospitals will lose a consistent supply of blood.
Iris Talley, RN, a psychiatric nurse at CVPH, said: “The United States is currently in a nation-wide shortage of platelets. Do you know who isn’t experiencing a shortage of platelets? The Adirondack Blood Donor Center. The Center is a huge resource for this community – and for the North Country as a whole – and there is no reason for UVM to close its doors other than to increase their bottom line.”
NYSNA nurses, healthcare professionals, and allies called on UVMH to reverse its decision to eliminate frontline healthcare worker and good union jobs in New York, to stop the closure of the Adirondack Blood Donor Center, and to settle a fair contract that puts quality patient care first.
NYSNA represents nearly 900 nurses and healthcare professionals at UVMH-CVPH. Their contract expired on Dec. 21, 2025, and they have been bargaining for months for a fair contract. Member leaders gave an update on contract talks, which resumed today and are scheduled to continue tomorrow. Safe staffing and layoff protections are key issues in negotiations, especially as management has proposed making nurse staffing less safe.
Medical-surgical nurse Shawn Baker, RN, a member of the hospital’s safe staffing committee, said: “NYSNA nurses at UVMH-Elizabethtown and UVMH-Alice Hyde recently settled fair contracts, but CVPH is still dragging its feet and playing games. We are asking you to keep the Adirondack Blood Donor Center open for care! We are asking you to do the right thing, and to prioritize the patients of Plattsburgh and the North Country over profits.”
Assembly Member Michael Cashman said: “Every reduction in local health care capacity has real consequences for the families, patients, and providers who rely on these services every day. I strongly urge the UVM Health Network to pause and reconsider this decision while working with employees, community leaders, labor partners, patients, and elected officials to explore every available alternative.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “It’s our responsibility as nurses and healthcare professionals to advocate for our patients and to improve their access to care. We are very concerned that UVMH is closing healthcare services in the North Country, cutting jobs, and disrespecting our members and patients. We are calling on them to stop closing essential services and start negotiating a fair contract!”
North Country NYSNA nurses and healthcare professionals are united to protect access to safe, quality patient care in the face of hospital consolidation and federal healthcare cuts. In 2026, NYSNA settled fair contracts that deliver safe staffing and family-sustaining wages and benefits at Samaritan Medical Center, North Star Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, UVMH-Elizabethtown, and most recently, UVMH-Alice Hyde Medical Center. NYSNA members continue to bargain contracts at Adirondack Medical Center and UVMH-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital.
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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.