To: Ascension Healthcare

ASCENSION HEALTHCARE: Keep St. Francis Hospital a community hospital!

Keep St. Francis Hospital a community hospital!

Why is this important?

For years, the staff at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee's Southside has provided affordable, quality healthcare to Milwaukee because they live, love, and work in the community.

But, things are about to change. Ascension Healthcare, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the country, has officially taken over St. Francis -- and there's cause for concern:

* Ascension is known for shuttering services or closing healthcare facilities completely.
* Ascension is notorious for union-busting and withholding workers' wages. In Detroit, the company conspired to keep nursing wages low and was forced to pay over $13 million in back pay to the workers.
* Ascension handles its debt collection through Accretive, a for-profit debt collection agency, which has been the subject of lawsuits in 10 states and was even banned from the state of Minnesota for its illegal debt collection practices.

We need to stand up as a community and tell Ascension Healthcare: "We want you to keep St. Francis a community hospital!"

By showing broad community support, we'll give St. Francis' staff a stronger footing for negotiating and tell Ascension that they need to listen to us if they want to do business in Milwaukee.