skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Powerful thunderstorms threaten Texas and Louisiana, delaying holiday travel; Volunteers vital for meal delivery to older IL residents; Bald eagle gets official nod as Maine population soars; Tips to help avoid holiday scams.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Immigrants' advocates worry about Trump's mass deportation plans. Voters from both parties oppose ending the EPA's regulatory power. And older adults want lawmakers to lower prescription drug costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

From the unprecedented election season to the latest environmental news, the Yonder Report looks back at stories that topped our weekly 2024 newscasts.

Therapists unionize as OHSU, Legacy submit plans for merger

play audio
Play

Monday, September 30, 2024   

Oregon Health and Science University and Legacy Health have officially submitted merger plans to state regulators. Behavioral therapists at Legacy unionized in anticipation of this to protect themselves.

Sixty behavioral health therapists at Legacy Unity Center for Behavioral Health have voted to join the Oregon Nurses Association.

They're also doubling the size of an existing bargaining unit at the hospital, which includes other mental health workers.

Legacy Behavioral Health Therapist Meaghan Wilkinson-Smith said she and her coworkers didn't know about a potential merger until they heard it on the news.

"It worried people that we were going to continue to have no information," said Wilkinson-Smith, "and just be kind of blindsided by whatever decisions and changes Legacy decided to move forward with."

Wilkinson-Smith said with the union, they hope to have a more standardized pay structure.

ONA and other unions representing workers affected by the merger say they support it, based on assurances from OHSU - including on job security, pay parity, and honoring union contracts.

Access to mental health has been an issue in Oregon. A Mental Health America ranking from 2022 placed the state third to last.

Wilkinson-Smith said the union will help her and her colleagues better advocate for patients.

"We hope that we'll have more of a voice in expressing the things that we think could be helping our patients before they get to a point of needing hospitalization," said Wilkinson-Smith, "but also afterwards, and what that looks like for them."

Wilkinson-Smith also said the union will give them more of a voice in Salem when it comes to state policies.

Along with mental and behavioral health specialists, ONA represents more than 220 nurses at Legacy Unity Center for Behavioral Health.



Disclosure: Oregon Nurses Association (AFT Local 5905) contributes to our fund for reporting on Civic Engagement, Health Issues, Livable Wages/Working Families, Mental Health. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The Farm Bill extension is in effect through Sept. 30, 2025, and includes nearly $31 billion in economic and disaster aid for farmers. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Farmers in Wisconsin may be breathing a sigh of relief going into the new year with the farm bill extension but it may be temporary, as experts said …


Social Issues

play sound

More middle-aged and older South Dakotans had financial concerns this year, especially around health care, according to a new survey. Advocates for …

Social Issues

play sound

By Anya Petrone Slepyan for The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for New Mexico News Connection for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Co…


Social Issues

play sound

Virginia's child welfare system grapples with a surge of unfounded reports that critics say stem from overly broad mandatory reporting laws, …

Olive, a poodle mix, has comforted more than 300 kids in Missouri's court system. (Photo courtesy of Therapy Paws)

Social Issues

play sound

A Missouri-based therapy dog has an inspiring journey that began as a homeless stray on the streets of Los Angeles. Olive, a ten-pound poodle mix…

Social Issues

play sound

California has more than 60,000 children in the foster care system and about 7,000 in extended care up to age 21 but many do not receive all the servi…

Social Issues

play sound

By Dwight Adams for Mirror Indy.Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Mirror Indy-Free Press Indiana-Public News S…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021