Community members and lawmakers joined picketing nurses outside Crozer-Chester Medical Center Friday amid growing concerns over Crozer Health’s finances, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

The four-hospital Crozer Health, owned by the for-profit Prospect Medical Holdings, has struggled to pay bills and laid off 215 workers in March.

The picketing nurses say Prospect is allegedly “disrespecting staff” while creating a healthcare desert in Delaware County.

The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) is asking Prospect to improve working conditions and increase staffing levels.

“And if that means that this for-profit hospital needs to give us our land back and go and let us return this hospital to the quality that it used to be, we have a renowned burn center and a level two trauma center and a cancer center. Give it back,” said Peggy Malone, president of the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association.

A Crozer Health press statement pointed out that Crozer Health’s registered nurse vacancy rate is 10.5 percent compared to 15.7 percent nationally, and its RN annual turnover is 20.4 percent compared to the national average of 20.4 percent.

Crozer said it is actively searching for hires, offering incentives during a “national crisis” in nurse staffing.

Read more about this latest protest over Crozer Health at WHYY.

Crozer Chester Medical Center Emergency Department was given the honor of ringing the NYSE bell June 1, 2020 for its treatment of COVID-19 patients.