National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:2 7/22/09 10:25 PM Page 4 NewsBriefs Sutter Pushes Business Strategy at Expense of Community Health CALIFORNIA I f sutter health has its way, its extensive network of hospitals across Northern California over the next few decades will be concentrated in more affluent communities and will be mega-hospitals in key markets like San Francisco and Sacramento, or much smaller facilities in other communities; feature private luxury rooms; and focus on the most lucrative and best-reimbursed hospital procedures. The fallout from such a strategy, however, is that many low-income neighborhoods will be left without fullfledged hospitals with emergency departments, or that patients needing services that aren't profitable for Sutter will have nowhere to go. Yet Sutter is a "not-for-profit" hospital chain claiming to be the salvation for its targeted acquisitions of community hospitals. "They have a repeating thing of closing community hospitals, typically in underserved communities, while moving services to more affluent communities," said Jane Sandoval, an emergency room RN at Sutter's St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco. "It's just so painfully obvious that it's for profit, and 4 REGISTERED NURSE they can say as much as they want about how they care about these small community hospitals. They don't."Registered nurses organized with CNA/NNOC, however, are determined not to let the giant hospital corporation, which now operates some 28 facilities across Northern and Central California, pursue its plans without a fight. RNs in San Francisco and in the East Bay Area city of San Leandro have so far made the biggest inroads in thwarting Sutter's plans, and in building community and politicians' support for forcing Sutter to meet public health needs. Most recently, RNs at San Leandro Hospital this spring and summer have successfully rallied tremendous opposition to Sutter's plans to close their hospital, which serves an ethnically diverse and lower-income city of seniors and working families. Sutter claims it cannot afford to run San Leandro Hospital at a loss. Meanwhile, in the next-door and more affluent Castro Valley, Sutter plans to rebuild its Eden Medical Center with 48 fewer beds and all private rooms. RNs and supporters have held numerous protests and testified before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors (the body that W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G must approve plans to build the new Eden Medical Center), educated local businesses and the public, and organized themselves, local residents, doctors, and patients to oppose the closure of San Leandro Hospital. Opponents of the closure say that eliminating the emergency room at San Leandro, which handled 27,000 visits last year, will be devastating for the surrounding community and that people will die if they must travel to Castro Valley or Oakland for emergency services. "I can tell you we are full every night with very sick people," said Kim Gault, an ER charge nurse at San Leandro. As a result of the outcry, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors has backed off what had originally seemed like a donedeal plan to allow the county to turn San Leandro Hospital into a rehabilitation facility. Another hospital company has offered to continue operating San Leandro as an acute-care facility. The situation is changing rapidly, and CNA/NNOC has filed a lawsuit to step up pressure on all parties to find a way to keep San Leandro Hospital open. Across the bay in San Francisco, Sutter for years has been trying to close St. Luke's Hospital, which likewise cares for a population of lower-income Latino and African-American residents in the city's southern neighborhoods, and focus its attention on building a new high-tech mega-hospital on top of Cathedral Hill, which is located in a wealthier neighborhood. RNs at St. Luke's—who with their coworkers at California Pacific Medical Center are still fighting for a contract—have also waged a fierce fight against the closure, enlisting community support and the help of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. So far they've successfully gotten Sutter to commit to keeping St. Luke's open, but Sutter wants to eliminate certain units citywide, including psychiatric, subacute, and skilled nursing, and reduce the number of beds at St. Luke's from 229 to 86. Sutter must obtain city approval for the new Cathedral Hill and rebuild of St. Luke's, however, and submit a master plan for its operations in San Francisco that meets the needs of residents. RNs are planning to use that JUNE 2009

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