Registered Nurses at Huntington Hospital voice serious concerns at Thursday rally

Nurses go on Strike in Northern California – Photos by Terry Miller

By Terry Miller

Last Thursday, scores of registered nurses at Huntington Memorial Hospital attended a rally in an effort to restore quality patient care at HMH and to call on management to implement the highest standard of Ebola preparedness, including personal protective equipment and training for healthcare workers.
Six elected representatives from federal, state, and city levels, along with over 250 community members, have signed letters calling on HMH to act in accordance with state law by implementing safe staffing and providing sufficient supplies. They also urged hospital management to cease violating labor rights.
Congresswoman Judy Chu, Pasadena City Councilmember Victor Gordo, and other community leaders attended the rally to express support for nurses’ efforts to restore quality patient care at HMH.
One of the many concerns was a chaotic period recently at Huntington in which nurses were transitioning to an electronic data base which in turn created a serious delay in patient care. Some nurses said they were intimidated by administration and that they were photographed against their will.
Nurses began organizing to affiliate with the California Nurses Association (CNA) this May after a number of their efforts to engage management on patient care issues were rebuffed. Since then, some improvements have been won, but management has begun to engage in “illegal activity in an attempt to thwart unionization attempts.” Managers have interrogated nurses about their organizing activities and threatened loss of support staff and healthcare benefits if the union drive continues.
In an effort to demonstrate the need for patient care improvements throughout the hospital, nurses compiled an extensive Patient Care Report highlighting various patient care concerns-most notably chronic unsafe staffing practices.
“Like my colleagues, I’ve always been proud to work at Huntington because it has a reputation for providing quality patient care,” said Ann Linck, RN, Maternity. “However, in recent years we’ve seen hospital management prioritize profits and make decisions that degrade the quality of care delivery.”
“By raising our collective voice we’ve already won some improvements here at HMH, but unfortunately management is now trying to intimidate us into silence,” said Allysha Almada, RN, Intensive Care. “It is our job as RNs to advocate for patient care so silence is not an option. Our patients deserve safe staffing and adequate supplies, and state law demands it. We are committed to continue organizing until quality care is restored at our hospital.”
Two-day strikes which started Tuesday affected nearly 20,000 registered nurses at 86 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics, a Sutter hospital in Tracy, and Watsonville Community Hospital kicking off a wave of protests at 15 states and the District of Columbia over eroding patient care conditions symbolized by inadequate Ebola safeguards at most U.S. hospitals.
Kaiser RNs and nurse practitioners were on strike Tuesday morning in Antioch, Fremont, Fresno, Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, Roseville, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, South Sacramento, South San Francisco, Stockton, Vacaville, Vallejo, Walnut Creek. Large noon rallies were held at Kaiser Oakland and Kaiser South Sacramento.
On Wednesday, November 12, California RNs joined with nurses and allies in 14 other states and the District of Columbia to step up the call for improved safeguards in the face of the deadly Ebola virus. In California, in addition to Kaiser, Sutter Tracy and Watsonville, nurses also be picketed at hospitals that are part of Dignity Health, Sutter, St. Joseph Health System, Memorial Care, and the University of California medical centers.

For striking nurses, the failure to secure Ebola safeguards symbolizes what nurses see as a steady erosion in care standards that increasingly put patients as well as nurses and other frontline health workers at risk.

“Nurses, who have been willing to stand by the patients whether it’s the flu, whether it’s Ebola, whether it’s cancer, are now being asked to put themselves in harm’s way unprotected, unguarded,” said NNU Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, in a press conference announcing the actions.

On patient care issues, Kaiser RNs have cited cuts in hospital services at a number of Kaiser hospitals, sharp restrictions on admitting patients for hospital care or early discharge of patients who still need hospitalization.

Kaiser RN Katy Roemer told reporters over the weekend that Kaiser nurses are “not seeing the resources we need on a daily basis to provide safe care. We are going out on strike about patient safety issues.”
“Our call for a strike speaks loudly and clearly that we want management to stop their stalling in bargaining our first contract, stop the unfair labor practices, and provide the safeguards and resources needed to deliver safe patient care. It’s high time to listen to the nurses,” said Sutter Tracy RN Dotty Nygard.
On Ebola, what NNU is demanding is the optimal personal protective equipment for nurses and other caregivers who interact with Ebola patients. That means full-body hazmat suits that meet the American Society for Testing and Materials F1670 standard for blood penetration, F1671 standard for viral penetration, and that leave no skin exposed or unprotected, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-approved powered air purifying respirators with an assigned protection factor of at least 50.
Second, that all facilities provide continuous, rigorous interactive training for RNs and other health workers who might encounter an Ebola patient, that includes practice putting on and taking off the hazmat suits where some of the greatest risk of infection can occur.

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