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10 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 U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 4 CALIFORNIA N urses know that public-sector hospitals and clinics are vital to their communities because they often serve the most vulnerable patients. That's why they are often called safety-net facilities because people can get care regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status. Meanwhile, corporate health systems, including so-called non- profit systems, do not treat anywhere near their fair share of Medi-Cal (the state's Med- icaid system) patients. In California, public health care systems serve more than 3.7 million patients annu- ally, including 35 percent of all Medi-Cal and uninsured hospital care statewide, according to the California Association of Public Hos- pitals and Health Systems. Their services are essential but across the state, many public hospitals are under attack. Nurses are fight- ing unit closures, staffing cuts, potential sale to private operators, and more. According to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a formerly govern- ment-run hospital admitted on average 15 percent fewer Medicaid patients in the years immediately following privatization. Privati- zation means less care for vulnerable patients. Here's a snapshot of what is happening at public-sector hospitals from San Ber - nardino County in the southern part of the state to Alameda County, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nurse members of California Nurses Association (CNA) at these facilities are speaking out, standing up for patients, their communities, and themselves. San Bernardino County Registered nurses who work for San Bernardino County came out in force in August to attend a board of supervisors meeting and to speak out during public com- ment at the board of supervisors meeting in San Bernardino, Calif. They highlighted their patient safety concerns, including chronic short staffing and the county's failure to recruit and retain RNs. The nurses said that chronic short staffing is leading to moral distress, resulting in nurses leaving. There are currently more than 300 open nurse positions at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), the hos- pital operated by San Bernardino County. "Over the past six months, nurses at ARMC have reported more than 125 inci- dents of unsafe patient care due to short staffing," said Diana Lucatero, RN in the medical intensive care unit at ARMC. "This is unacceptable. We must stand behind our hospital's mission statement and make the necessary changes to provide our commu- nity with a hospital that focuses on maintaining the highest standards in patient care. The safety of our patients needs to be the top priority." The union nurses are currently in bar- gaining and are demanding a strong contract to address their patient safety concerns. The RNs' current contract expires in October 2024 and covers San Bernardino County nurses who work at ARMC, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Behav- ioral Health, the sheriff 's department, the probation department, and other county facilities. The RNs called on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to support nurses' bargaining demands for the highest standards in patient safety and the recruitment and retention of nursing talent. Ventura County Nurses and health care workers from Ventura County held an informational picket in September to protest the Board of Supervisors' decision to approve the clo- sure of the Santa Paula Hospital intensive care unit (ICU) and obstetrics unit. Staff from Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, Calif., and staff from Ventura County Med- ical Center, in Ventura, Calif., joined together to oppose the closures. After the picket, nurses also spoke out at the Board of Super- visors meeting. Nurses wanted the public to know that serious problems can arise when laboring mothers or critically ill patients are forced to transfer from one hospital to another because of service shutdowns at their local facility. Furthermore, they noted that, cur- rently, without the need for these transfers, patients are often already forced to wait long periods for an ambulance. "Right now, when we are dealing with emergency situations, we have seen people wait too long for ambulances to take them to Ventura County Medical Center from Santa Paula," said Mary Ann Chase, an RN at Santa Paula. "This problem can only get worse if these units end up closing. This is unaccept- able when we are talking about people's lives and well-being. These proposed closures will overwhelm other surrounding area hospitals Public-sector RNs fight back NEWS BRIEFS Left: San Bernardino County nurses speak- ing out at board of supervisors meeting. Opposite: Alameda Hospital nurses picket to protest elimination of surgical services.