Up until 2023, the pandemic was still very much with us. As a result, we were still mired in the urgency of the present – in alarm bells, in overflowing censuses, and in the moment-by-moment sacrifice required of all frontline caregivers. It was only in the last year that that began to change, and we can see it in PASNAP’s incredible streak of 2023 actions and organizing: 

We could once again begin to look forward.

In June, nearly 500 Fox Chase Cancer Center nurses and allied professionals withstood serious scare tactics to vote overwhelmingly to unionize with us. In December, their Temple Health System colleagues at Chestnut Hill Hospital (212 RNs and 78 techs) and 92 research nurses, program coordinators, and data specialists at the Office for Cancer Research at Fox Chase all voted to unionize with PASNAP. And on February 1st, 128 technical specialists at Jeanes Hospital voted to join their colleagues in Jeanes Nurses United and unionize with PASNAP! 

In and amidst the new organizing, PASNAP Members from Einstein Medical Center, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Fair Acres Geriatric Center, Suburban Community Medical Center, Lower Bucks Hospital, Jeanes Hospital, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Temple University Hospital all held actions, advocating passionately for excellence in patient care and protections for caregivers. In Harrisburg, we urged our representatives to support a minimum safety standard for patient care in Pennsylvania. And in June, after 20 years of hard work and advocacy, the Patient Safety Act, which would establish nurse-to-patient ratios in all PA hospitals, passed the House with overwhelming, bipartisan support.

This is why we have a voice. This year was the year we once again began to look forward – in contract bargaining, in organizing, in Harrisburg, and in the halls of our hospitals. We did it together – as a bigger, stronger, and more diverse Union!