Ohio Nurses Association calls on University Hospitals to Save Geneva Cancer Care

(Geneva, OH)— The Geneva Nurses Association, a local of the Ohio Nurses Association (ONA), is calling on University Hospitals to invest in UH Geneva Medical Center and protect access to quality healthcare close to home. University Hospitals announced that they will close the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Geneva on November 13, 2026, forcing cancer patients from Ashtabula County to travel an additional 30 to 60 minutes or longer to seek treatment at UH’s TriPoint Medical Center in Concord in Lake County.

“Unfortunately, across Ohio, we’re seeing healthcare corporations like UH put profits ahead of patients and communities,” said ONA President Rick Lucas, RN. “They’re investing in bigger, shinier buildings while stripping essential services away from local hospitals. But patients don’t care how impressive a building looks when they have to drive an hour for cancer treatment or travel farther to get emergency care. These decisions have real human consequences. Patients need care close to home, not corporate consolidation that puts their health and safety at risk. Our communities deserve investment in their hospitals, their healthcare workforce, and the services they depend on, not more cuts in the name of corporate profits.”

“The patients I’ve talked to have been shocked and saddened to learn that UH is closing the cancer care unit at Geneva,” said Lori Gaines, RN, an infusion-certified staff nurse with more than a decade of experience at the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Geneva. “Receiving a cancer diagnosis is one of the most stressful things a person can go through, and then to learn that the facility that’s been treating your cancer, with the staff you’ve come to know and trust, is closing, and that you’ll have to drive another half hour or longer to get care? It’s heartbreaking to hear about the added stress this is putting on our patients.”