To the stalwart members of the Oregon Nurses Association, my deepest appreciation for your commitment to your organization, your profession and your community, while enduring extreme emotional, physical and financial duress.

This dispute with Providence had been festering for a very long time. No one wants, nor wins in these confrontations, but eventually enough is enough. A $14 million CEO, who hired scabs and threatened to eliminate health care benefits, is of little comfort to me or my loved ones in a medical emergency; it’s the doctors and nurses at our bedside who matter. They cried foul, and finally were heard.

This is a communitywide triumph for our friends, neighbors, and caregivers.

CHRIS CONNAWAY

Astoria