Portland-area hospital to close pediatric intensive care unit

Providence St. Vincent Medical Center will permanently close its pediatric intensive care unit in November, hospital officials announced Tuesday.

Providence Health & Services Oregon said the number of children seeking the highest level of care at its hospital near Beaverton has been consistently low over the past several years.

Last year, for example, the four-bed unit was empty for 155 days and typically saw one patient on the days it wasn’t empty, according to Dr. Ray Moreno, who oversees Providence St. Vincent’s operations as the chief executive of Providence Oregon’s West service area.

He said the pediatric intensive care unit served a total of 122 patients last year. Providence said that 20 nurses and three physicians who staff the unit will lose their jobs. The Catholic not-for-profit said it hopes to find those workers other positions within the health system.

After the unit closes during the first week of November, the nearest pediatric intensive care units will be at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and Legacy Health’s Randall Children’s Hospital.

Providence’s St. Vincent’s pediatric intensive care unit opened in 2012, when the hospital chain expected Washington County’s growing population would lead to a higher demand for pediatric critical care services in the area. But Moreno said the demand for these services “simply did not grow nor materialize.”

Maintaining the unit’s services with a low volume of patients, Moreno said, “simply was not sustainable.” That’s because running an intensive care unit is resource intensive and requires staffing at all hours of the day, Moreno said.

“Even though this is really hard, the responsible thing to do is to close this unit,” he said. Moreno said Providence St. Vincent’s pediatric intensive care unit is much smaller than OHSU’s and Legacy Health’s units, whose units have a 20- and 24-bed capacity, respectively.

The hospital chain said Providence St. Vincent has other resources like the pediatric inpatient unit, neonatal intensive care unit and its children’s emergency room to “ensure continuity of high-quality care” for patients.

Pediatric intensive care units treat the sickest pediatric patients admitted to the hospital. Children generally can’t be admitted to the adult intensive care unit, where physicians and nurses may not have specialized training in treating young children.

In a statement, the Oregon Nurses Association called the decision “abhorrent” and accused Providence of prioritizing financial concerns over patient needs. The labor union said closing the unit during a time when respiratory illnesses are on the rise could put children at greater risk.

Erin Piltz, a union-represented nurse at Providence St. Vincent, said the pediatric intensive care unit at the hospital typically sees higher patient volumes during respiratory virus season since it receives patients from other Providence facilities across Oregon. She added that nurses have “advocated for years to be cross-trained so that we can serve more than just pediatric patients and have repeatedly been told there’s no budget.”

The pediatric intensive unit closure is the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures by Providence, which has already held two rounds of layoffs this year. Hospital leaders have warned of more cuts ahead.

Hospital financial data collected by the Oregon Health Authority show that the state’s hospitals collectively posted two straight quarters of operating losses, totaling nearly $300 million in the first quarter of 2025 as expenses continued to outpace revenues. During the first three months of the year, all six Providence hospitals in Oregon also reported deficits, with Providence St. Vincent posting the largest at nearly $100 million.

The hospital chain announced in August that its Providence Seaside Hospital will close its labor and delivery unit in October, citing rising costs, workforce shortages and declining birth rates. Providence also plans to close its heart clinic in Gresham at the end of the month.

Moreno, chief executive at Providence St. Vincent, said that while he doesn’t anticipate more cuts at the hospital in the near future, hospitals across the country are taking a hard look at the services they provide, particularly those that see low patient demand.

“This environment is requiring all health care systems to be really mindful and thoughtful about services that are provided while being good stewards of the resources that they have,” he said.

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