Union health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) in Redding, Calif. will hold a rally this Wednesday to announce the delivery of a petition to management demanding safe staffing, the Caregiver and Healthcare Employees Union (CHEU) and the California Nurses Association (CNA) announced today.

The petition is signed by more than 350 CHEU and CNA members, and calls for an increase in the number of aides per shift, per unit in order to reduce call-light response times to less than 30 to 40 minutes, to reduce patient falls, to reduce the number of physical attacks upon staff who are alone with multiple disoriented, confused, or combative patients, and to increase cleaning of units by environmental services (EVS).

“As a nurses’ aide, the petition is necessary as a way to unite every individual voice to say staffing levels right now are unacceptable when our hospital could be so much better, with patients happier, and a better environment. We are demanding better for ourselves, our coworkers and above all our patients,” said Kati Haas, SRMC nurses’ aide. “Patients deserve the best care we can give, not a fraction of it, which is what they receive now because we are stretched so thin.”  

Who: CHEU members, consisting of nurses’ aides, techs, environmental services, admitting and other workers, as well as registered nurse members of CNA.
What: Rally to announce the delivery of a petition demanding more nurses’ aides, sitters, and EVS employees each scheduled shift
Where: 1100 Butte Street Redding, CA (on the street side of the emergency department)
When: Wednesday October 21, 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

“As an RN, the hospital does not deny we need a certain amount of nurses, nurses’ aides, and environmental services staff,” said SRMC registered nurse Tiffany Kraft. “They have spreadsheets they use to play a numbers game and for nurses and nurses’ aides, this is not a game.”

“Administration does not account for the new needs of Covid-19 screening and the ever-growing need for one-on-one patient sitters,” Kraft continued. “This affects the lives and health of our patients and all hospital staff. As winter approaches, all hospitals will have an increase of patients due to Covid-19 and the flu. Decreased staff creates substandard care for patients and jeopardizes patient and staff safety.”