Providence will close the pediatric intensive care unit at St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., the first week of November.
Hospital officials Ray Moreno, MD, chief executive, Elizabeth Paxton, RN, chief nursing officer and Kristine Bell, RN, executive director of Providence women and children’s services, cited ongoing challenges, particularly a low patient census, in the system news release as reasons for the closure.
“In 2024, the PICU was empty for 155 days. On days when the unit was not empty, we typically had one patient in the four-bed unit,” they said.
According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the four-bed PICU at St. Vincent opened in 2013. Providence’s website states that the unit provides care to children who are in critical or unstable condition due to a serious accident, illness or other medical issue. The unit also sometimes cares for children after they have had surgery.
Moving forward, St. Vincent will continue serving the pediatric community through its inpatient pediatric unit, neonatal ICU, specialized surgical services at the Gerry Frank Center for Children’s Care, and 24/7 children’s emergency room in Portland, St. Vincent leaders said.
They added that leaders at Oregon Health & Science University and Legacy Health, both based in Portland, have also expressed their commitment to support PICU needs in the community.
“In these challenging times for healthcare, we need to focus on the specialized services the community expects and relies on Providence to provide,” they said.
“This is a difficult time for everyone involved, particularly for those who have dedicated themselves to the PICU. For the past 12 years, the PICU team has demonstrated extraordinary compassion, skill and resilience. We are profoundly grateful for their tireless service and the difference the PICU team has made in the lives of so many children and their families.”
News of the unit closure comes in the wake of Providence cutting 128 jobs across its Oregon ministries in August, following a round of cuts announced in June. The workforce reductions span various positions — including nursing roles — across the organization.
At the time, Jennifer Burrows, RN, chief executive at Providence Oregon, noted that the reductions “are not single events in time. We expect to have additional announcements later in the year as we make progress toward getting ourselves back to a place of being at break-even in terms of revenue and expenses.”
Providence Seaside (Ore.) Hospital also said it would close inpatient obstetric and newborn care services, effective Oct. 4.
The Oregon Nurses Association released a statement Sept. 16 calling the PICU closure at St. Vincent “misguided,” while noting that the closure comes on the heels of the Seaside job cuts and the approach of respiratory virus season.
“Eliminating access to care for children is a callous mistake, particularly as respiratory viruses are on the rise — putting children at greater risk of serious illnesses and emphasizing their need for specialized healthcare,” the statement reads.
