RNs at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte to rally for safe patient care

Registered nurses at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., will hold a protest on March 27 to highlight their concerns about patient safety and chronic short staffing, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) today.

City of Hope nurses care for very sick patients, including cancer patients undergoing experimental treatments. In 2023, nurses filed 846 assignment despite objection forms (ADOs), documenting their concerns with unsafe staffing and missed meal and rest breaks. Ninety-two percent of the ADOs cited inadequate staffing as the reason for filling out the form. As of March 21, RNs have submitted more ADOs in 2024 than in all of 2020.

The RNs’ contract will expire on April 30. Contract negotiations began in February 2024.

“Our vulnerable patients deserve the very best care every day, but it is very difficult to do that when we are stretched too thin,” said Leslie Heald, RN in the medical-surgical unit at City of Hope. “We need to take rest and meal breaks, so we can be at our very best for our patients who need a high level of care. Too many nurses have been missing their breaks because there is no nurse available to care for their patients.”

• Who: RNs at City of Hope National Medical Center
• What: Rally for Patient Safety
• When: Wednesday, March 27, 8-9:30 a.m.
• Where: City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E. Duarte Rd., Duarte, CA 91010 (near hospital entrance)

“Last year, nurses filled out nearly three times as many assignment despite objection forms as we did in 2022,” said Holly Conn, RN in the Briskin Center for Clinical Research at City of Hope. “Management needs to staff our units appropriately. Our patients deserve better. We nurses deserve better.”

“If City of Hope can invest $1 billion in its Orange County campus and $390 million in buying Cancer Treatment Centers of America, it can invest in nurses and safe staffing,” said Conn. “We are demanding that our employer provide staffing that reflects the level of care that our patient population needs and acknowledges the specialized care our patients require and deserve.”

CNA 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.