Registered nurses at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward will hold a press conference on Wednesday, June 17 at 8 am PT, about the latest developments in the Cal/OSHA complaints California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) filed against the facility for workplace violence and the COVID outbreak. 

On Friday, June 12, Cal/OSHA sent a letter to CNA, announcing that the agency would be citing St. Rose Hospital for failing to implement an effective workplace violence prevention plan.

“St. Rose is not following its workplace violence prevention plan,” said Anthony Ashley, RN in St Rose’s emergency department. “We have unsafe working conditions, especially in the emergency department, where we do not have a dedicated security person and are chronically understaffed. I was assaulted by an angry visitor who arrived with a patient.” 

In May, a COVID outbreak occurred at St. Rose Hospital, resulting in 69 nurses being tested for COVID and 26 nurses testing positive and some nurses getting sick. “Nurses in my unit started getting COVID symptoms around mid-May,” said Morgan Waggener, RN in the medical-surgical/telemetry unit at St. Rose. “The hospital refused to test them and told them to get tested elsewhere. After the outbreak, we are now getting tested at the hospital.”

“At the beginning of the pandemic, the hospital refused to let us wear a mask unless we were caring for a patient who needed droplet protections,” said Breana Lastiri, RN, in the medical-surgical/telemetry unit at St. Rose. “It was only until after the outbreak that they required us to wear masks throughout the shift.”

• Who: St. Rose registered nurses - Anthony Ashley, RN and Estella Evans, RN in emergency department on workplace violence; Breana Lastiri, RN and Morgan Waggener, RN in the medical-surgical/telemetry unit on COVID outbreak
• What: Press conference about Cal/OSHA complaints on workplace violence prevention and COVID outbreak
• When: Wednesday, June 17, 8 am PT
• Where: St. Rose Hospital,2700 Calaroga Ave., Hayward, CA 94545 - front entrance to the parking lot, immediately next to the St. Rose Hospital sign