Nurses And Doctors Protest To Keep San Leandro Hospital Open - Tuesday Rally

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 02 Jun 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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San Leandro Hospital registered nurses and physicians will be holding a rally today to protest the threatened closure of the medical center by Sutter Health. The healthcare professionals say that this plan would be a significant loss of public health resources for Alameda County, and an unwise move in the face of ongoing threats to public health.

They are objecting to Sutter's application to rebuild Eden Medical Center as a facility with dozens of fewer beds, and are demanding the Board of Supervisors reject the project's environmental impact review. The supervisors were forced to reschedule the vote twice in the last month as a result of intense public pressure against the plan.

The vote is now scheduled for June 9. Sutter aims to rebuild Eden as a luxury hospital with fewer beds to serve a select clientele, and hopes to simultaneously close down San Leandro Hospital, Eden's sister hospital, whose emergency room provides care to an underserved population, seeing over 27,000 patients annually.

WHAT: Rally to Save San Leandro Hospital
WHEN: Today, Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - 5:00 PM
WHERE: 13851 E. 14th Street, San Leandro

"The San Leandro-Eden deal that Sutter is trying to push through the board is an imminent threat to public health. By stripping the East Bay of one of its few remaining emergency rooms and acute-care hospitals, Sutter is harming our ability to prepare for and respond to a public health crisis, and is sentencing these patients to second-class healthcare status," said Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of the California Nurses Association.

Source
California Nurses Association