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Visit to Legislators Thursday in Sacramento

Emphasize need to save critically needed care as Attorney General Harris nears

With a decision from Attorney General Kamala Harris fast approaching, Daughters of Charity registered nurses and other hospital workers will walk the halls of the State Capitol Thursday calling on legislators to encourage the Attorney General to approve the proposed sale of six California Daughters of Charity hospitals to Prime Healthcare.

"Daughters of Charity RNs, and the vast majority of other Daughters hospital workers strongly support the sale as the only viable way to keep these hospitals open and preserve the vital emergency and critical care services for our patients and our communities," said Maria Canonizado, a registered nurse at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose.

What: Lobby Day with RNs, other Daughters of Charity hospital workers
When: Thursday, January 15, beginning at 11 a.m.
Where: California State Capitol, Sacramento

The nurses and other health workers will visit legislative offices encouraging lawmakers to join in supporting the sale. The Daughters of Charity workers will also deliver petitions signed by SEIU-UHW members supporting the sale to the Attorney General's office in Sacramento.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, which represents 1,800 Daughters of Charity RNs has joined with a broad coalition that includes environmental, community and civil rights groups that endorse the sale to avert a potentially catastrophic health care crisis in two of California's largest metropolitan areas.

Hundreds of RNs rallied and spoke out at public hearings last week in Los Angeles and the Bay Area in support of the sale. Many other Daughters hospital workers also spoke out publicly for the sale.

With the Daughters of Charity Health System losing nearly $10 million a month, Prime has committed to keep all six hospitals open for a minimum of five years, protect most of the existing 7600 jobs, pay off nearly $750 million in tax-exempt bonds, pension and other debts, and commit an additional $150 million to hospital improvements.

Daughters of Charity Hospitals are operated as non-profits, the sale of which requires the approval of the Attorney General, who must determine if the transaction is in the public interest.

"How can we close O'Connor Hospital where one quarter of the babies in the San Jose area were born, where there were almost 5,000 emergency room visits in the last year, and that accepts many of the community's most acutely ill patients?" asked Canonizado.

"Or risk the loss of St. Louise Regional Hospital, the only hospital serving Gilroy whose closure would force the nearly 24,000 patients who went to its ER last year to travel 25 miles to get to the next nearest hospital," wrote Daughters RNs Sharon Erlich and Donna Fischer in a commentary in the San Jose Mercury News last week.

When DCHS first learned of the effort to sell in 2014, nurses came up with a set of guidelines designed to protect the hospitals, patients, and the community. These include: (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.

Of interested buyers, only Prime satisfied these principles, although nurses also considered a proposal from a Wall Street private equity firm, Blue Wolf Capital. Blue Wolf, which has a reputation for buying, gutting and reselling businesses for quick profit, failed to satisfy the nurses' requirements.