National Nurses United

CALIFORNIA O n feb. 1, more than 100,000 RN members of the California Nurses Association declared vic- tory when the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced it will not approve for hospitals any new expedited waivers of the state's landmark safe staffing ratios and almost all existing waivers ended by Feb. 8—with some even sooner if the state determines so. "This is an incredible victory for patients and nurses, because we know that safe staffing saves lives," said Zenei Triunfo- Cortez, RN and a president of the California Nurses Association and its national organi- zation, National Nurses United. "It was our collective action as a union that defeated the money and lobbying power of the hospital industry, which we know is focused on the bottom line, not safe patient care." Hospital employers have, since last sum- mer, used the Covid pandemic as an excuse to begin applying with CDPH for waivers of California's safe staffing standards, which specify for various hospital units the maxi- mum number of patients that can be assigned to one nurse—with adjustments made for severity of patient illness. For nurses, optimal staffing is paramount to ensuring the safety of and quality of care for patients, and Covid had already severely strained staffing since care is more compli- cated, patients are the sickest they've seen, and many staff are unable to work because they themselves had contracted Covid. In December, the staffing crisis worsened when CDPH allowed hospitals to automati- cally obtain blanket "expedited waivers" of safe staffing ratios for crit- ical departments such as the intensive care unit and emergency room, among others. Nurses repeatedly warned that the understaffing in their hospitals was unsafe and untenable. Nurses have been protesting all waivers of safe staffing standards, arguing that patients need more, not less, care during Covid and that the state was actually rewarding hospi- tals for manufacturing staffing problems by canceling traveling nurse contracts, failing to fill open RN positions, still doing elective surgeries, laying off and furloughing nurses, and more. CALIFORNIA C alifornia nurses Association is pleased to sponsor Assembly Bill 1400 (Kalra), the California Guar- anteed Health Care for All Act (CalCare), which would guarantee compre- hensive, high-quality health care to all California residents as a human right. Despite the gains made under the Affordable Care Act, nearly 3 million Cali- fornians have no health insurance, while millions more have insurance that they can't afford to use because their copays and deductibles are too high. Meanwhile, for- profit insurance companies are reporting record-breaking profits, even while the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage Cal- ifornia and medical bankruptcies are at an all time high. Sponsored by CNA and authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, AB 1400 will ensure that all Californians, regardless of employment, income, immigration status, race, gender, or any other considerations, can get the health care they need, free at the point of service. "From our experiences caring for patients, we nurses have known the need for and fought for decades for everyone to have guar- anteed health care through a system like CalCare," said Bonnie Castillo, RN and execu- tive director of California Nurses Association and the national nursing organization with which it is affiliated, National Nurses United. "The Covid pandemic has just underscored the desperate societal need for this program NOW. CalCare will ensure that public health is the priority of our health care system, not making a buck for insurance corporations." CNA nurses have been at the forefront of the fight to guarantee health care as a right for all Californians since 1994 for nearly three decades. CNA launched the campaign to win Cal- Care with a day of action on Feb. 6, working with volunteers throughout California to host 23 car caravans throughout the state, which attracted more than a thousand par- ticipants in total. Nurses defeat industry efforts to undermine safe staffing ratios After RN push back, state discontinues waivers Nurses applaud introduction of CalCare bill State legislation would establish single-payer health system for world's fifth-largest economy NEWS BRIEFS 6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 2 1

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