Nurses say Tenet has not invested in staffing or maintaining the facility, resulting in chronic understaffing, inoperable elevators, sewage leaks, and vermin infestations.

Registered nurses at Desert Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Palm Springs, Calif., are opposed to Measure AA, a ballot measure that would eliminate the public’s control and oversight over the hospital by selling it to Tenet Healthcare, a for-profit corporation headquartered in Dallas, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) today. DRMC is a public asset governed by Desert Healthcare District and currently leased to and operated by Tenet until 2027. DRMC nurses are represented by CNA.

“Measure AA is not an ‘investment’ in Desert Regional, as its supporters say, but a shakedown that would let Tenet transfer or sell the hospital for a huge profit to someone else after 10 years,” said Deborah Edwards, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit at DRMC. “We nurses want the Coachella Valley community to know that Desert Healthcare District does not need to sell the hospital to make money. The district can keep leasing the hospital without increasing taxes to residents.

“Tenet’s priority is profits, not patient care. We are chronically short-staffed, which saves Tenet money, but jeopardizes patient care,” Edwards added. “Also, Tenet has completely failed to maintain the building. We have a recurring problem with the elevators not working, sewage has leaked into patient rooms, rodents are in the intensive care unit, and we’ve had cockroaches in the emergency room’s break room. This is why we should not relinquish public control of our hospital to Tenet. They don’t deserve it.”

DRMC is in no danger of closing. Tenet is unlikely to abandon the facility, its most profitable hospital in California in 2023, with more than $500 million in profits from 2018-2023. Contrary to what supporters of Measure AA say, the ballot measure will not save taxpayers money. Instead, Measure AA would allow the sale of Coachella Valley’s most important publicly owned healthcare asset and end local input on the hospital’s future.

Additionally, Measure AA would restrict and prevent the Desert Healthcare District board from spending taxpayer funds within the healthcare district and community. If Tenet cared about Coachella Valley, its proposal would not include a noncompete clause restricting how Desert Healthcare District can invest funds in other health care resources. 

In September 2023, Tenet proposed a deal to renew its lease and buy the hospital. Nurses expressed opposition to the sale earlier this year and remain committed to keeping DRMC a public hospital. RNs at Desert have long sounded the alarm about the failure of Tenet to maintain the hospital facility and the chronic short-staffing problems.

CNA represents more than 850 nurses at DRMC. 

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