Nurses at HCA Swedish Medical Center vote to join NNOC/NNU

Registered nurses at HCA HealthONE Swedish, also known as Swedish Medical Center, in Englewood, Colorado, voted to join National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, the country’s largest nurses union, in an election held July 1 and 2, 2026.

The union said the vote marks a major win for nurses at the hospital and for others working across the HCA system. Christina Michas, RN in the general rehabilitation unit at Swedish, said nurses at the hospital showed HCA that they would continue pressing for union protections, even after what she described as illegal interference in their election.

According to the press release, the second election followed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospital system, had illegally interfered with a previous union election held in 2024. The release said that earlier vote was invalidated because of that interference.

The hospital has nearly 800 nurses, and the release says turnover has been high since the first election. It said only about one third of the nurses who worked at the hospital in 2024 still work there today. Nurses at Swedish said that turnover reflects broader problems at the facility and that they want to address those issues through bargaining.

With the election win, nurses would be able to begin negotiations on their first union contract. The release said such a contract could address several of the issues at HCA that nurses say are pushing staff away from the facility and putting patients at risk.

The press release also said HCA appealed the NLRB’s ruling that led to the second election. NNOC/NNU said it intends to stand by nurses through the process.

NNOC/NNU now represents nearly 800 nurses at HCA HealthONE Swedish, a 504-bed Level 1 trauma center. The organization also said CNA/NNOC/NNU represents more than 10,000 HCA nurses at 19 facilities in seven states.

National Nurses United describes itself as the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with more than 225,000 members nationwide. Its affiliates include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.