News

Feeling empty and quiet on San Pablo hospital’s last full day

On Tuesday, the financially strapped medical center, the only public hospital that serves the 250,000 residents between Berkeley and Vallejo, will close its doors after 60 years of providing care. The closure leaves many people in West Contra Costa County struggling to find new doctors and hospitals and hoping not to need emergency services.

Victoria Colliver, SFGate.com

April 22, 2015

Oakland: Protesters Rally to Keep Youth Rehabilitation Center Open

About 150 people gathered Monday outside a teen addiction rehabilitation center to protest its possible closure. Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been trying to shed Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Centers for the past two years, which runs an annual $800,000 deficit. Alameda County is working with Sutter to find a provider to take over the program.

Rebecca Parr, Inside Bay Area News

April 14, 2015

Vote Could Shutter Oakland Youth Drug & Alcohol Treatment Center After 30 Years Of Service

A drug and alcohol treatment center for young people in Oakland is considered an invaluable resource in the East Bay community. But after 30 years, a facility is now threatened with closure by Sutter Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care corporations in the state.

Dave Padilla, KCBS San Francisco

April 14, 2015

Nurses fall in line on possible strike at USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital

Nurses at USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital took action in the face of contract negotiations that have dragged on since last Mayby taking a strike vote Thursday and Friday, and 85% of the nurses who voted supported a strike, according to the nurses union representative.

Sara Cardine, La Canada Valley Sun

March 28, 2015

San Bernardino County nurses ratify new pact

Registered nurses who work at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) and other San Bernardino County health facilities voted by 93 percent to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement.

Fontana Herald News

March 27, 2015

Alta Bates To Face Fines For Failing To Follow Infectious Disease Protocols

The Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been fined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health for willfully violating safety protocols that put staff, patients and visitors at high risk of contracting infectious diseases. Ironically, this violation was discovered as Cal/OSHA personnel were investigating the hospital for another safety transgression.

Dianne Depra, Tech Times

March 27, 2015

Op-Ed: Transparency, Consistency Needed in Not-For-Profit Rules

Once again, California legislators are considering legislation to establish uniformity and transparency for charity care and community benefit programs -- SB 346, authored by Sen. Bob Wieckowski. Once again, the hospital giants are scrambling to prevent it.

Zenei Cortez, Co-president, California Nurses Association, Published in California Healthline

March 26, 2015

North County Cares Coalition to Hold Day of Action for Restoration of a Full Service Hospital

On the one-year anniversary of the illegal closing of North Adams Regional Hospital on March 28, 2014the North County Cares Coalition (NCCC) is hosting a day of action and demonstrations as part of a year-long effort to restore a full service hospital to meet the significant health care needs of the 37,000 residents of Northern Berkshire County who are currently going without access to needed services, and are forced to travel a long distance to receive services they used to receive close to home.

North County Cares Coalition press release

March 26, 2015

Hard Facts

The management of Huntington Memorial Hospital (HMH) would have the Pasadena community believe that it is a great hospital and that current efforts by its registered nurses to form a labor union in affiliation with the California Nurses Association (CNA) will lead to ruin. It may be hard for management to admit, but neither claim could be further from the truth.

John Grula, PhD, Pasadena Weekly

March 25, 2015

Sutter Health to pay fines for safety violations at Alta Bates

Sutter Health has agreed to pay $71,275 in fines issued by Cal/OSHA after an investigation found safety violations for handling patients with suspected airborne diseases at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland.

Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle

March 25, 2015