Our elected board of supervisors must take back our health care system

A coalition of labor unions, labor allies, grassroots organizations, and Alameda County residents have come together to form the Alameda County Coalition for Healthy Communities (ACCHC) to demand health care justice in Alameda County. The coalition, spearheaded by California Nurses Association, SEIU 1021, East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, and GABRIELA Oakland, are holding a virtual town hall on Monday, July 13 from 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. to highlight the urgency for immediate change. They are calling on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to vote on an immediate takeover of the county’s only public health system, Alameda Health System (AHS).

“As a nurse, I am tired of witnessing our public health system failing our patients; they  often do not have the resources or their basic needs met for them to go back into the community after being discharged from the hospital,” said Mawata Kamara, an emergency RN at San Leandro Hospital. “We have been going to the AHS Board of Trustees and addressing the deficits in patient care for years to no avail. Our community deserves a true public health system that is a part of the county and not a separate structure that lacks accountability.”

What: Virtual Town Hall -- Our Communities, Our Health. Health care justice in Alameda County
When: Monday, July 13, 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Where: Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87988899086?pwd=NlFHbjdsSW54a0o5YzlWSjQvRjlPUT09

Since 1998, the public health system has been managed by a separate authority, an appointed Board of Trustees that manages and oversees operations of AHS. Over the past two decades, the system’s lack of accountability and public transparency have escalated into a broken public health system that is failing to meet the basic needs of frontline communities.  AHS’ imbalanced focus of budget priorities over community health outcomes, compounded with AHS administration’s lack of respect for the nurses, health care workers, environmental service workers, interns and residents, and administrative staff who serve the system, have led ACCHC to call on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for transformative change to the public health system by calling on the board to vote on a full takeover of the health system. 

"Working as a nurse at a public hospital, I am committed to caring for the patients who depend on us as their lifeline,” said Karen Rothblatt, an operating room RN at Alameda Hospital. “Within our county, frontline Black and Brown communities are facing severe health outcomes due to multiple factors, including socioeconomic status, and to me that is just unacceptable because we can do better. By fully integrating our public health system into the county, we can work together to focus on measurable improvements to our community's health."