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8 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 N E 2 0 1 4 NEWS BRIEFS CALIFORNIA R egistered nurses, joined by local community leaders, in Northern and Southern Califor- nia held vigils May 29 at Seton Medical Center in Daly City and at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles to demand that the Daughters of Charity Health System be held to its pledge to protect critical hospital services at all its facilities. For more than a year, Daughters of Char- ity has been actively soliciting a buy-out partner while failing to make any commit- ments to the communities served by Daugh- ters hospitals that full services will be maintained. Many of the six Daughters of Charity hospitals in California, including Seton and St. Vincent, serve predominantly low- income, medically underserved communi- ties who would be especially harmed by cuts in hospital care and other patient services. Daly City also has one of the largest Filipino populations in the state, a demographic that would be hurt by the loss of Seton. "Seton is a safety net hospital for the resi- dents of north San Mateo County. Without it, where will the uninsured and underin- sured patients go to receive care?" asked Melanie Santos, a telemetry RN at Seton for 14 years. "We are asking the Daughters of Charity to keep their promises of keep- ing this hospital open as a hospi- tal. The nurses have kept our promise to provide high quality of care every day." Malou Young, an 18-year Seton RN, said that patients, employees, and residents consider Seton to be their community hospital. "Anyone who buys this hospital needs to keep this as a fully functioning hospital," said Young. RNs are concerned that any new owners might try to change the zoning of the valuable land and try to convert the property into luxury condos or other such uses. "The services we provide here are vital and without them there will be delays in care. When you're having a stroke, you are going to want to be sent to hospital that is designated Stroke Center Certified, like we are. Any loss of services, no matter how small, will only mean longer waits for a hospital bed or even delays in care." Daughters of Charity RNs in Los Angeles had similar senti- ments. "I've worked here for nine years, and I've cared for thousands of members of the local community, including many residents of Koreatown," says St. Vincent RN Christine Chung. "We care for the workers and the poor, the young and the old, from all cultures. I've kept my promise to care for these patients and their families. We're asking the Daughters to keep their promise—keep this hospi- tal open, keep these nurses serv- ing the community." Daughters of Charity executives should also keep promises made to all employees on safe staffing, high standards to assure recruitment and retention of RNs, as well as on jobs, benefits, and pensions with a trans- parent process in any transition, the nurses say. —Staff report RNs demand Daughters of Charity system keep its promises