W Post: National Nurse Union Joins Fight Against Broadlands Hospital

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052303373.html

Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page LZ03

Living in LoCo is Erica Garman's blog devoted to all things interesting in Loudoun County. You can find it athttp://www.loudounextra.com. This column of highlights from the blog appears in this space every Sunday.

The sandbox battle between Inova Loudoun Hospital and HCA's proposed Broadlands Regional Medical Center continues.

Popcorn, anyone?


The National Nurses Organizing Committee cited bad work conditions at HCA as its reason for opposing the Broadlands facility.
camera works Photo Credit: By Erica Garman -- Loudounextra.com Photo

A new player has entered the sandbox: the National Nurses Organizing Committee. The group, which claims to be the largest nurses union in the country, has joined forces with Concerned Citizens of Broadlands in fighting the HCA proposal. An Inova Loudoun spokesman says it is not involved in what the union is doing.

So why is the nurses union against a hospital in Broadlands?

Kathy McGregor, an organizer for the union who attended a news conference Monday at the county courthouse in Leesburg, said that HCA is the largest employer of registered nurses in the United States and that the union has formed the HCA RN Network to protect those nurses from what McGregor said are poor working conditions.

I asked her whether her group will be lobbying for nurses at HCA's hospital in Broadlands if it is built, and she replied yes. So the union can't be completely against a new hospital, right?

FULL 2 page story at link.