Date: November 27, 2018 Contact: Mark Richards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (724) 357-7188

INDIANA, PA, Nov. 27, 2018 – Indiana Regional Medical Center’s facilities, surgeries, emergency room services, doctor’s
appointments and test labs operated normally today following the first day of a walkout by nurses representing by the
PSEA union.

Operations were normal today at the hospital. A baby was born, the inpatient census increased today by 16%, there
were regular number of operating room and scope procedures today, emergency room visits were average for the day
and no concerns were reported. The agency nurses and other hospital staff worked together supportively.

For the past month, PSEA negotiators well knew that a strike by nurses would come with implications including
requiring IRMC to hire temporary replacement RNs covering all IRMC nursing classifications, with the exception of
CRNAs. Nonetheless, union leadership initiated the walkout with full knowledge of IRMC’s need to remain open and hire
temporary replacement nurses. Initiating a costly strike prior to completing negotiations was not in anyone’s best
interests, especially to nurses, and that decision rests at the feet of just a few PSEA leaders who advocated for a strike.

IRMC wanted to avoid this additional, substantial expense and made appeals for IRNA/PSEA to withdraw the strike
notice and return to negotiations. The parties had several negotiation dates scheduled in November and December,
but the union struck anyway.

As a sole community hospital, IRMC must be available to deliver babies, care for heart attacks, treat emergencies and
plan for critical functions that are not able to be performed without nurses. So, to uphold IRMC’s mission for access to
care every day, administrators and the hospital’s Board of Directors had no choice but to bring in a nurse staffing agency
to serve the community while PSEA-represented nurses, in effect, attempted to close our hospital by walking out. The
only other alternative was to close the hospital.

The nurse staffing agency requires a five-day minimum commitment, which is standard. The cost of maintaining
operations with the staffing agency nurses is a net cost of $1.5 million which IRMC didn’t budget for, and IRMC does not
intend to cover this expense that the PSEA Leadership has created. As a result, this $1.5 million net cost will be deducted
from the hospital’s current offer, another fact known by the PSEA prior to their strike.

To be clear, IRMC has not, and is not, locking out its registered nurses. The PSEA went out on strike, and, for the rest of
this week, IRMC is fully operating the hospital with the replacement nurses and its dedicated staff who reported for
work today. As a result of the five-day commitment IRMC has with the nurse staffing agency, the return to work of IRMC
RNs (other than CRNAs) who participate in the strike will be delayed until 7:00 a.m. on December 1, 2018. IRMC CRNAs
will be returned to work beginning with the 7:00 am shift on November 27, 2018 and are expected to report to work as
scheduled.

The PSEA’s assertions about a lockout are untrue and unfounded. In advance of their strike, PSEA leadership and all
employees were advised that only those nurses electing to report to work today would have work available to them for
the rest of the week. Also, PSEA advised its members that picketing would continue throughout the week. It is
unfortunate that old-style scrupulous union tactics have become part of their communications strategy with their
members.

At conflict in the negotiations are 4% wage increases for nurses who already make more than their regional
counterparts, the need to pay the same premiums as the rest of IRMC’s employees for health care coverage, and
regionally competitive PTO (paid time-off ) days.

The next bargaining session is set for Nov. 29.