Pottstown Hospital nurses ‘devastated’ and ‘grieving’ over 131 layoffs, closure of cancer center and ICU

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Pottstown Hospital nurses and other staff gathered to protest widespread layoffs on Monday morning. They lambasted health system owners for shutting down what they call critical services to the community and cutting jobs.

Parent company Tower Health, which also operates acute care hospitals in Reading and Phoenixville, announced earlier this month it will lay off 350 people across the system, citing “major headwinds confronting every health system nationwide.”

More than one-third of those layoffs — 131 positions — are occurring at Pottstown Hospital, which will close its intensive care unit, cancer infusion center, outpatient endoscopy suite and the second floor medical-surgical nursing unit by Jan. 16.

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.

Hospital ‘financial pressures and uncertainty’

The layoff and closure decisions were “not made lightly,” said Tower Health officials in a statement.

In a letter to staff, Michael Stern, president and CEO, wrote that health systems nationwide are facing “extraordinary financial pressures and uncertainty” with several factors playing a role: rising supply chain and labor costs, insurance reimbursement rates, a growing Medicare population, more uninsured patients and new Medicaid policies.

“We have worked diligently these last years to navigate these challenges, but continuing the same path is no longer viable,” Stern wrote.

Tower Health has suffered operating losses for the past seven years. After reporting a preliminary $5.9 million operating profit this summer for fiscal year 2025, a recent annual audit confirmed that the system ended up with a $20.6 million operating loss.

“The audited financials for the full year reflect increased malpractice insurance reserves and final adjustments to accounts receivable,” including unpaid medical bills, Tower Health confirmed in a statement.

However, the system still did better compared to fiscal year 2024 when it reported a $27.1 million operating loss. Officials said the improvement was driven “by efforts to streamline operations while maintaining a focus on delivering high-quality, accessible care.”

Tower Health staff affected by the layoffs, which also includes executives and administrative employees, will be able to apply for other open positions throughout the system.

The health system began notifying Pottstown patients about service changes and are helping them transfer to similar programs at other Tower Health locations or at other nearby health care systems, officials said.

Despite the closure of Pottstown Hospital’s second-floor medical-surgical unit, the facility will still perform inpatient surgeries, according to a Tower Health statement.