RNs Blast Sutter's Plans To Cut Patient Services At St. Luke's, CPMC, Other Bay Area Facilities As Nurses Plan Strike At 13 Sutter Hospitals

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 02 Oct 2007 - 13:00 PDT

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Registered nurses, joined by special guests, will speak out Wednesday against plans by Sutter Health corporation to drastically reduce patient care services in San Francisco and other Bay Area communities in a press conference outside St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco, one of the facilities Sutter has targeted for cutbacks.

Wednesday's event occurs as nurses are stepping up preparations for the largest RN strike in California in nearly 10 years with 5,000 RNs at 15 Northern California hospitals, all but two part of the Sutter chain, scheduled to strike on October 10 and 11. The RNs are members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

What: RN Press Conference
When: Wednesday, October 3
Time: 11 a.m.
Where: Outside Main Entrance of St. Luke's Hospital
3555 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco

"Sutter should show more respect for both the communities it serves and its caregivers, not abandon them," said Zenei Cortez, RN, member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents.

The press conference will emphasize Sutter's controversial plans in San Francisco, starting with its goal of eliminating emergency and acute care services at St. Luke's, while shifting services to higher income neighborhoods. Sutter is taking a similar approach in Santa Rosa, where it plans to close its Santa Rosa hospital which, like St. Luke's, serves a medically underserved population. Sutter has also talked about reductions at other Bay Area hospitals, including San Leandro.

Last Friday, CNA/NNOC announced that it has served notice for a walkout that would also affect: Alta Bates Summit Medical Center with facilities in Berkeley and Oakland, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Sutter Delta in Antioch, Sutter Solano in Vallejo, California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Sutter Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Sutter Novato, and Fremont-Rideout Health Group facilities in Marysville and Yuba City.

http://www.calnurses.org