National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_April 5/5/11 11:35 AM Page 7 Parts of Olive View Hospital in Sylmar, Calif. collapsed during a 1971 quake California Hospitals Get Yet Another Extension of Seismic Upgrade Deadline LLOYD CLUFF/CORBIS J CALIFORNIA ust weeks after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated Japan and on the 40th anniversary of a California earthquake that collapsed two big hospitals, California legislators yet again delayed the deadline by which hospitals were supposed to have made sure their structures could withstand a major seismic event and that they could continuously operate. Studies show that about 40 percent of the state's hospital structures are at risk of collapse in a large temblor. SB 90 essentially grants up to a sevenyear extension to 2022 for any hospital with a building at risk of collapsing in an earthquake, even those that were previously on track to comply with the law, as long as they APRIL 2011 meet certain loose and cursory criteria. The California Nurses Association strongly opposed the bill. This extension comes on top of numerous delays already granted to the California hospital industry, which has gone begging to the Legislature year after year for extensions. In 1994, after the Northridge earthquake, the Legislature gave hospitals until 2008 to retrofit building and until 2030 to rebuild their entire infrastructure. Then in 2000, legislators pushed the 2008 deadline to 2013. In 2006, they again pushed the 2013 deadline to 2015 for hospitals under construction. In 2007, they approved an extension of the 2013 deadline to 2020 if hospitals could show "financial hardship." Many hospitals across the state have avoided making progress on upgrading their existing buildings, even while posting hefty profits and dumping money into 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 building glitzy new treatment centers and wings that they believe will make them more money. Lost in all the lobbying is consideration of public safety, both for hospitals workers and patients, as well as for the wider community, which will need the hospital operational after a big earthquake. "It's not a question of if, but when the Big One will hit us," said Malinda Markowitz, RN and a copresident of the California Nurses Association. "As we all learned from Haiti, the one building that Californians need to keep standing after a major earthquake is their community's acute-care hospital. We need to stop rewarding hospitals for not complying with the law. They have an obligation for the safety of their patients. It's another example of profits over the safety of patients, workers, and the community." —Staff report N AT I O N A L N U R S E 7

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