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Nurses Mobilize for Approval of Sale to Save Critically Needed, Essential Care in Underserved Areas

Registered nurses from Daughters of Charity hospitals are mobilizing en masse to public hearings next week, in their continued fight to save their hospitals and preserve essential patient care services in their communities, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) who represents 1,800 nurses at four of the hospitals announced today.

The Attorney General's office is holding the six public hearings in each of the communities served by one of the Daughters of Charity Hospitals: Los Angeles, Lynwood, San Jose, Gilroy, Moss Beach, and Daly City, Ca. Hearings will be preceded by nurse rallies, where RNs will hold rallies before each hearing and then testify to share findings from an impact report released mid-December, outlining crucial healthcare services that would be lost in the event of hospital closures.

Los Angeles Hearings Jan. 5 and 6

1. Monday, Jan. 5, 10:00 a.m. St. Francis Medical Center
   Bateman Hall Auditorium, 11331 Ernestine Ave., Lynwood, CA 90262
2. Tuesday, Jan 6, 10:00 a.m. St. Vincent Medical Center
   Seton Hall Auditorium, 262 South Lake St., Los Angeles, CA 90057

Bay Area Hearings Jan 7, 8, 9

3. Wednesday Jan. 7, 10:00 a.m. O'Connor Hospital
   O'Connor Hospital Medical Office Building, 2101 Forest Ave., San Jose, CA 95128
4. Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, 10:00 a.m. Saint Louise Regional Hospital
   Gilroy City Hall, Council Chambers 7351 Rosanna St., Gilroy, CA 95020
5. Friday, Jan. 9, 9:00 a.m., Seton Medical Center Coastside
   Seton Medical Center-Coastside, 600 Marine Blvd., Moss Beach, CA 94038
6. Friday, Jan 9, 1:00 p.m. Seton Medical Center
   Seton Medical Center, Merced Room, 145 Lake Merced Blvd., Daly City, CA 94015.

Daughters of Charity Hospitals are operated as non-profit entities, and the proposed sale to Prime requires the approval of the Attorney General, who has the legal responsibility to ensure that the approval or non-approval of any sale of a non-profit hospital is in the public interest.

In early 2014, when confronted by the likelihood of sale, DCHS nurses formulated a set of principles that they determined a transaction must embody in order to protect the hospitals, patients, and the community. These included: (1) operate all DCHS hospitals as acute care facilities, (2) maintain all existing hospital services, (3) give reasonable assurances against a short-term bankruptcy, (4) keep all promises made to retirees, and (5) honor caregivers' right to collectively bargain for their mutual aid and patient protection.

The nurses made these principles known to all prospective purchasers who would agree to listen. Of those various candidates that lodged bids for the hospitals, only Prime satisfied the conditions necessary to guarantee safe patient care and continued community access to these essential institutions of public health. The nurses' support for this transaction is based these commitments, the evidence of which is found in Prime's written agreements

"Prime Healthcare signed an agreement that guarantees that these hospitals will continue to provide vital health services to the communities surrounding them, while no other buyer has stepped forward and offered any commitments whatsoever," said Maribel Licardo, RN, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose.

Another potential buyer supported by SEIU-UHW is Blue Wolf Capital, a Wall Street private equity firm, that as a condition of the sale stated it would cut everyone's contract by a minimum of 15 percent, refused to agree in writing to keep all of the hospital services open, and said they want to restructure the hospital.

Read the Impact Report detailing how closure of Daughters of Charity hospitals would dramatically reduce patient access to essential healthcare services.