Last night, over 100 nurses at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital held a community speak out at the hospital’s Board of Directors meeting. Nurses, patients, and community members gave powerful testimony about the hospital’s worsening patient care conditions and the administration’s dangerous and ill-advised restructuring plan, which would remove 10 percent of all bedside nurses at the hospital. As a result of yesterday’s powerful action by nurses, the Hospital notified the California Nurses Association today that they would agree to mediation.

“Mediation gives us the opportunity to resolve our serious patient care concerns, said Vanessa Lockhart, a Salinas Valley ER RN. “We commend Assemblymember Alejo and the Hospital Board of Directors for their helpful role in this process. We encourage hospital management to place the well-being of our community ahead of pushing a conflict with nurses.”

Hospital management is attempting to make drastic cuts to bedside nurses and reduce patient care despite making nearly $50 million dollars in profits in the last two fiscal year according to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital’s own financial statements. In the same period some senior executives received pay increases.