Nurses at H.R.H. Demand Safer Staffing Levels

HOULTON, Maine (WAGM) - Registered nurses at Houlton Regional Hospital have launched a two-day strike, forming a picket line outside the facility over staffing and patient safety concerns. Here at Houlton Regional Hospital registered nurses are walking off the job today in a two-day strike demanding safer staffing levels and patient care and nurses say negotiations with hospital management are slow.

Taylor Flint, a Registered Nurse in Houlton Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department said: “So, after almost 13 months of negotiating with the hospital we have decided to strike because we’re not making much progress in the way of protection in staffing and security and ratios for our nursing staff. We just hope to be able to come back to the table and work this out to be able to better provide for our community safely and give them the best quality care.”

Beth Cook, another Houlton Registered Nurse added: “We’ve been in contract negotiations for over a year, and we have just gotten to the point where we want to get management’s attention, and we are tired of being met with comprehensive packages that want to reduce staffing and reduce other benefits in order to get a raise.”

Erin Mitchell, another Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department says: “Yeah, we really care about our community. These are our family members. These are our friends, and we just want to ensure that we’ll have the staff to take care of them.”

Nurses say staffing has only been more strained since the closure of Houlton Regional Hospital’s Labor and Delivery Unit last May. Cooke: “We’ve had people come in in labor that we’ve had to transport with a nurse to another facility and we’ve also had deliveries here and it’s scary because we love moms so much, right? We want to give you the best care. We want to give your baby the best care. We also have grandpa in the next door having a stroke or your dad in the other room having a heart attack and we just don’t feel like we are able to do everything that we want to with your care when we only have four nurses in the department.”

Houlton Regional hospital says the average number of births in the ER have not increased since the closure of the OB Unit. The hospital released a statement by Chief Nursing Officer Traci Peabody addressing the nurse’s strike stating quote: “I could not remain silent when our hospital is being disrespected, when our hardworking employees are being disrespected and most confusing to me, when some of our nurses are disrespecting themselves by implying that they do not provide good care. With our new partnership with NMMC, that began on May 29, 2025, we have been able to secure funds to invest in our organization with our focus being on recruiting and retaining our valued employees through improvements in wages and benefits as well as purchase needed equipment. This is just one of the many benefits of partnering with another organization.” The two-day strike continues until Thursday morning, November 20^th. With the attention of hospital management, nurses say they’re ready to return to negotiations.