Registered nurses and caregivers, along with community, faith and labor leaders, are renewing their call for Mayor Muriel Bowser to invoke emergency legislation to keep Providence Hospital open. The call follows Friday’s D.C. Council’s Committee on Health hearing in which Ascension executive Keith Vander Kolk testified Ascension intends to close Providence Hospital, including its acute-care services and emergency room, by December 14. Providence Hospital is owned by St. Louis based Ascension, the largest Catholic non-profit health system in the country. “It is clear that Ascension does not care about the health and well-being of the people of D.C.,” said Elissa Curry, a registered nurse at Providence Hospital. “Now we need Mayor Bowser to step up and protect the residents of D.C.” During Friday’s hearing, Herbert Harris, Jr. from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, noted the important role Providence Hospital plays in providing emergency care to the area. He pointed out there are 70 miles of passenger and freight rail in D.C. and spoke of the critical aid Providence medical teams provided during the 2009 train accident that claimed the lives of six people and sent dozens of others to area hospitals. photo: Nurses and allies deliver petitions to DC Mayor's office last Friday; photo courtesy NNU