In some cases, individual workers took it upon themselves to informally try to prevent Cullen from being hired, or to have him terminated. Some contacted nearby hospitals in secret, or quietly spoke to their own superiors, to alert them that they should not hire Cullen. When Cullen took a job at Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown in June 2001, a nurse who had heard rumors about him at Easton Hospital advised her co-workers. They threatened to quit "en masse" if Cullen was not immediately dismissed, which he was.