Registered nurses at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, Texas, voted by nearly 2-to-1 last week to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas, the Texas affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU). NNOC-Texas will represent some 500 RNs at the hospital. 

Providence Memorial RN Guadalupe Bessire said:

A lot of brave nurses stepped forward to fight for our patients and our profession. We look forward to working with RNs from across El Paso and Texas to improve patient care and to have a unified voice for Texas nurses.

Providence becomes the third NNOC-Texas hospital in El Paso, and the sixth in Texas overall, a state where no private hospital RNs had collective representation prior to 2008. Providence is part of the Tenet Healthcare system.