Registered nurses at City of Hope National Medical Center, in Duarte, Calif. will hold a candlelight vigil on Friday, Feb. 23 to highlight patient safety concerns, including short staffing and the inability to take meal- and rest-period breaks daily, that they wish to resolve by winning a fair contract with strong, safe patient care provisions, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) today.

“Our nurses all want to do the best possible job we can when taking care of our patients, but we can't do it when management fails to provide adequate staffing. Our patients deserve better,“ said Leslie Heald, a City of Hope RN and cochair of the hospital’s Professional Performance Committee, an elected group of nurses who analyze and propose solutions to patient care problems. Heald said that every time nurses believe an assignment to be unsafe, they fill out an assignment despite objection (ADO) form. In 2023, City of Hope nurses filed 846 ADOs, almost tripling the number filed in 2022. “Ninety-two percent of the forms cited inadequate staffing as the reason for filling out the form. We want our hospital to have zero instances where conditions are unsafe — not 846.”

• Who:    RNs at City of Hope National Medical Center 
• What:   Candlelight vigil for patient safety 
• When:  Friday, Feb. 23, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. 
• Where: City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E Duarte Rd, Duarte, CA 91010 (i.e. near hospital entrance) 

“As we move into negotiations, we are prioritizing patient and nurse safety. We took an oath to protect and advocate for our patients and profession when we became nurses,” said Holly Conn, RN in the Briskin Center for Clinical Research. “As City of Hope nurses, we strive to provide the highest level of patient care and advocacy but are not afforded the resources to provide that care on a consistent basis by our employer. We come in extra, stay late, routinely miss meals and rest periods to meet the needs of those in our care. We are demanding that our employer provide staffing that reflects the high acuity of our patient population and the specialized care our patients require and deserve, not just the minimum nurse staffing levels required by the state.”

CNA/NNU represents more than 1,500 registered nurses at City of Hope National Medical Center.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.