FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MEGAN OTHERSEN GORMAN / 215.817.5781 / [email protected]
MAY 8, 2025
80 NURSES AT BROOKE GLEN BEHAVIORAL HOSPITAL IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY OVERWHELMINGLY RATIFY A NEW UNION CONTRACT, A YEAR IN THE MAKING, THAT WILL FURTHER PROTECT THEIR VULNERABLE PATIENTS
NURSE STAFFING AND RETENTION – KEY QUALITY OF CARE INDICATORS – WERE THE NURSES’ PRIMARY FOCUS THROUGHOUT LENGTHY NEGOTIATIONS
“The theme of National Nurses Week, happening now, is ‘the power of nursing.’ The power of nurses derives from our healing mission to care for some of society’s most vulnerable – those who suffer from trauma, mental health issues, and addiction. This contract acknowledges the importance of mental health care and the absolutely vital contributions of those who provide it.”
FORT WASHINGTON, PA – After 12 months of intense bargaining, 80-plus nurses at Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital ratified a new 3-year contract today that meaningfully benefits the caregivers and their patients by ensuring that Brooke Glen nurses have the staff and resources they need to stay on the job and provide safe and exceptional care to their vulnerable patient community.
The vote for the nurses’ new 3-year contract, completed today at 9 p.m., was overwhelmingly in favor of ratification.
“The theme of National Nurses Week, happening now, is ‘the power of nursing,’” says PASNAP President Maureen May, R.N., a longtime Temple University Hospital nurse. “The power of nurses derives from our healing mission. Brooke Glen nurses’ mission is to care for some of society’s most vulnerable – those who suffer from trauma, mental health issues, and addiction. This contract, with its emphasis on measures to improve retention of skilled nurses, acknowledges the importance of mental health care and the absolutely vital contributions of those who provide it.”
According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American teens and adults are experiencing mental health issues and vulnerabilities in alarming numbers that began ticking up prior to the pandemic. According to the CDC, one in five American adults experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression in 2023. Even before the pandemic, there were noted increases in depression among Americans ages 12 and older. In addition, deaths from drugs, alcohol, and suicide more than doubled between 2000 and 2017 and continue to rise. These deaths, often associated with mental distress, continue to impact families and communities socially, emotionally, and economically long after they occur.
Mental health matters – possibly now more than ever.
At the core of the nurses’ lengthy negotiations with owner Universal Health Services, a King of Prussia-based owner of hundreds of behavioral health hospitals across the nation, were recruitment and retention of experienced caregivers – critical quality of care issues that directly impact the care hospital residents receive when they are at their most vulnerable and an acknowledged problem area at Brooke Glen, where the employee turnover rate has been very high.
The nurses’ new 3-year contract indirectly addresses this with:
- Meaningful commitments to staffing – a key quality of care indicator. The Union won additional staffing for higher population units and a float RN for night shift, directly improving the quality of bedside care at the hospital.
- Increased commitments from the employer to meet with the nurses to address ongoing issues in the hospital. Ongoing review of the orientation process, nursing practices and health and safety concerns will work to improve the patient outcomes and retention for the Union nurses on the front line of the mental health crisis in our community.
- Healthy economic and education incentives, also to increase retention of highly skilled caregivers. Nurses will receive overall wage increases averaging 7.5% over the life of the contract. Additionally, nurses moving from PRN to full-time will receive a $5,000 bonus, special certification bonuses increased from $1,000 to $2,000 and $500 towards continuing education credits. All Union RNs will receive a $3,500 ratification bonus.
“High-quality care for our patients is of the utmost importance to every nurse here,” said one Brooke Glen nurse. “It’s at the heart of everything we do, whether it’s at the bedside or the bargaining table.”
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The Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital Nurses Association is an affiliate of PASNAP, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents 11,000-plus frontline nurses and healthcare professionals across Pennsylvania and was founded 25 years ago on the belief that patients receive the best care when clinical-care staff have a strong voice to advocate for their patients and themselves.
