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A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 9 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 13 CALIFORNIA A t a series of public meetings held by the Calif. State Attorney General's office starting in June, registered nurses with the Califor- nia Nurses Association/National Nurses United demanded to know how the pro - posed merger between St. Joseph Health System and Adventist Health System/West will impact patient health and safety, the available level of health care services, and charity care services. RNs spoke out at meetings in Humboldt, Napa, and Sonoma counties. The proposed agreement would merge four St. Joseph Health System facilities in Northern Calif. and five Adventist Health System/West facilities into a new jointly held charitable Calif. limited liability company called ST Network, LLC. "Union nurses have grave concerns about our health system merging with Adventist Health, which is vehemently anti-union and anti-workers' rights," said Lesley Ester, a rehabilitation nurse at St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka. "Mergers between hospital systems are just as dangerous as mergers between other corporations, says Tamara Hinckley, a regis- tered nurse at Sutter Santa Rosa. "When decisions are made by health care executives to improve the bottom line, they always end up hurting our communities and the patients we care for." CNA nurses asked the office of Calif. Attorney General Xavier Becerra to secure various terms, including committing to maintaining all services and to keep hospi- tals open to serve the community for a minimum of 15 years; meeting agreed-upon levels of charity care, health care provided for free or reduced prices to low-income patients, after the merger; respecting collective bargaining agreements and RN rights after the merger, which include patient safety language and patient care protections, as well as RN wages, pensions, and benefits; ensuring continued access to emergency care and women's health servic- es; complying with all seismic requirements of California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD); and investing in programs that alleviate home- lessness and mental health within Humboldt County. Nurses who work for St. Joseph Health System facilities say that they are especially concerned about potential hospital closures or reductions in services and how those closures or reductions will affect the community. "The merger would result in a near stran- glehold on the health care market in Napa County and that is never good for our patients, nurses, or the community," said MaryLou Bahn, an obstetrics nurse at Queen of the Valley Hospital, Napa. "With 87 percent of the market, prices and costs will go up and services will go down." —Staff report Nurses speak out against merger