PRESS RELEASE

JANUARY 29, 2026

CONTACT: Megan Othersen Gorman / [email protected] / (215) 817-5781

Ashley Berry Johnson / [email protected] / (267) 990-5505

PASNAP STATEMENT ON THE PENNSYLVANIA HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S APPROVAL, YESTERDAY, OF THE SALE OF WILKES-BARRE GENERAL HOSPITAL TO THE TENOR HEALTH FOUNDATION

THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF STAFF NURSES AND ALLIED PROFESSIONALS (PASNAP) REPRESENTS MORE THAN 11,000 FRONTLINE CAREGIVERS ACROSS PA, INCLUDING 250+ NURSES AND CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS AT WILKES-BARRE GENERAL HOSPITAL

WILKES-BARRE, PA – We are relieved to see Community Health Systems’ exit from Pennsylvania and hopeful that Tenor Health Foundation will take a different path—one that restores and preserves critical healthcare services for the people of Northeast Pennsylvania. After years of instability, caregivers and patients at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital deserve leadership focused on community needs, not short-term profit.

Tenor has an opportunity to do the right thing: to invest in safe staffing, stabilize services, and work in good faith with the nurses and healthcare workers who have kept these hospitals running through uncertainty and upheaval. We will be watching closely and engaging actively to ensure this transition prioritizes patient care, workforce stability, and transparency.

“Staff who have been here since before CHS took over are feeling nostalgic, remembering a time when our hospital was a top-notch, leading healthcare institution,” says Joyce Sciandra, RN, a Coronary Care Unit Nurse at Wilkes-Barre General and president of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, a PASNAP local, at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. “While ownership and administration have changed over the years, one thing has remained constant: the dedication of our staff. It is our people who continue to deliver exceptional, specialized, and compassionate care to our patients. Patients have always been our priority, and we hope Tenor wants to return to that standard again.”

The future of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital must be built with—and not at the expense of—the caregivers and communities who rely on them.

###

The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) represents more than 11,000 frontline healthcare workers across the commonwealth, including 250+ members of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and the Wyoming Valley Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Association at Wilkes-Barre General. PASNAP was founded 25 years ago on the belief that patients do better when frontline caregivers have a voice to advocate for their patients and themselves.