Mission Hospital to hire 200 staff in 100 days amid union pressure, community concerns

By Justin Berger

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — HCA Healthcare’s Mission Hospital wants to hire 200 new employees before the end of the year, according to an August email from CEO Greg Lowe:

As I’ve conducted listening sessions across the hospital over the last several months, the most common thing you all have wanted to know more about was what we are doing to recruit more team members to join us at Mission.

Starting Monday, we are going all-out on increasing our recruitment efforts with the goal of 200 hires in 100 days. And we’re not just talking about nursing. In addition to 100 RNs, we’re focused on hiring another 100 specialty techs including Imaging, Pharmacy, PT, OT, RT, Phlebotomy, EVS, and more. Our dedicated team of Recruiters have planned an extensive campaign reaching qualified candidates within and well beyond WNC, which includes on-site and virtual hiring events.

Here’s how you benefit and how you can help: our own colleagues are always our best recruiters, helping us bring in talent and add to our team. We are no stranger to referral bonuses, and you can continue to earn up to $8,000 for each employee you refer who joins Mission Health.

National Nurses United’s Chief Nurse Rep at Mission Hospital, Hannah Drummond, says she is happy that Mission wants to bring in more people, but believes it is a direct result of union pressure.

“When we do pressure them, they do the right thing, but it’s not like they wake up one day and suddenly have a change of conscious and they decide to do this,” Drummond said. “It’s because of the collective pressure of the nurses over and over and over again.”

Mission Health spokesperson Nancey Lindell shared this statement with News 13:

Recruitment has always been, and continues to be, one of our top priorities at Mission Health. Since 2019, we have launched multiple hiring campaigns aimed at strengthening our teams and ensuring we can continue delivering high-quality care to our communities. In fact, by the end of 2025 alone, we will have held or participated in more than 140 on-site and virtual recruitment events across the region. We’re investing in the current campaign—which includes enhanced sign-on and referral bonuses—as part of our ongoing strategy to attract and retain talented professionals. These types of incentives have been in place in various forms for years, and they vary across the organization based on need and specialty. Our effort is focused on building and maintaining a strong clinical team, which is foundational to our priority of exceptional patient care. We remain committed to supporting our care teams and investing in the long-term health of our workforce and our patients. Drummond said she feels HCA Healthcare continues to operate with only the bottom line in mind.

“We’re almost as low in core staff as we were in 2021 and the hospital took some pretty drastic measures in 2021 from the union’s pressure to bring in staff,” Drummond said.

Karen Sanders, an RN with decades of experience, including 16 at Mission Hospital, works with Reclaim Healthcare WNC, a coalition created to hold HCA accountable.

Sanders, too, is happy about the attempted hiring, but worries that the healthcare giant is not addressing the core issue of “why nurses are leaving.”

“It’s a circle of doom,” Sanders said.

Both Sanders and Drummond sounded the alarm about nurse retention.

“We get told that there’s this shortage and there’s not, it’s just people are sick of working in bad working conditions and so they leave the profession,” Drummond said. “I know nurses who left to go be bartenders and left to go work at restaurants.”

Drummond, despite already working at Mission Hospital, and Sanders both said they received recruitment texts offering $30,000 to work there.

“The only caveat is, are we going to be able to keep up with loss of nurses with hiring 100 nurses in 100 days?” Drummond asked.

When asked about the hiring announcement, Mayor Esther Manheimer shared this statement:

We appreciate the recent announcement by Mission Hospital’s CEO regarding the plan to hire 200 new employees, including 100 nurses, within the next 100 days. Our community has long expressed concern about staffing levels, especially in critical areas like nursing, so we welcome any action aimed at strengthening the quality and availability of care in our region. This hiring effort comes at a significant moment, following the settlement between Mission Hospital, HCA Healthcare, and our city and county governments. That agreement represents a critical step forward in addressing the concerns raised by our residents and local leaders over the past several years. Key elements of the settlement, including the creation of a $1 million charity care fund, the firm commitment to keep Transylvania Regional Hospital open through at least 2032, and the pursuit of Trauma Center verification, demonstrate progress. These are not just contractual terms; they are commitments to the health and well-being of the people who live and work in our community. Additionally, the agreement provides for more transparency and collaboration, with HCA now required to share meeting materials with local government representatives. This will allow us to provide direct feedback and better advocate for the healthcare needs of our residents. We know there is still work to do, but we see this as a new chapter. We will continue to hold Mission and HCA accountable to these commitments while working collaboratively to improve healthcare access and quality for everyone in our region.

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