Staff received notices on Nov. 7 about eliminated positions.
Union members of Pottstown Nurses United, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, said they were “blindsided” by the closures. They warned that patients will soon have to travel much farther to get certain health care services.
“That building has seen births, deaths, recoveries, heartbreaks and miracles,” said Beth Ridgley, an ICU registered nurse. “And for many in this community, it’s more than bricks and beds. It’s a lifeline, one that’s now being severed, not because it failed, but because it stopped being profitable enough.”
Job losses and concerns over access to health services
Registered nurse Maria Gutierrez, who works in Pottstown Hospital’s cancer center, said her colleagues were crucial in helping her recover from breast cancer in 2020, especially as she continued to work throughout treatment.
“Because that’s the Pottstown Hospital way. We care for each other,” Gutierrez said through sobs. “Today, we are asking the community for support not only in saving our jobs, but in saving critical and necessary health care resources in Pottstown.”
Christie Daub has loved being an ICU patient care technician, she said. But the Pottstown native said she’s now grieving for the loss of patient services, her job and her “core sense of purpose.”
Facing unemployment and a loss of income, Daub said she’s in danger of losing the new home she and her son just moved into a few weeks ago.
“As a single mother, with the rising costs of living, I am terrified about how I’m going to care for my son,” she said. “Christmas is coming. It feels like we’re slowly drowning.”
Daub said she fears that the changes at the hospital will have long-term health effects on the community, which includes a growing aging population and a significant number of unhoused residents.
“It’s infuriating that Tower is condemning our whole community to a future where there’s more sickness, more death, more dead-end jobs and poverty,” she said.
