San Francisco Faith Leaders To Stand With St. Luke's RNs: December 1

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 01 Dec 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Nurses Struggle to Preserve Services at St. Luke's as CPMC Master Plan for Cathedral Hill Hospital Looks to Slash St. Luke's by 62% and Terminate Patient Services for Community

Clergy and religious leaders representing the spectrum of San Francisco will gather at St. Luke's Hospital on Tuesday, December 1 to stand with RNs and other caregivers in their effort to stop the California Pacific Medical Center chain (CPMC) from making crippling cuts in patient beds and services offered at the iconic institution.

The clergy are among the array of community and healthcare groups urging the city to reject CPMC's Institutional Master Plan to build a new skyscraper hospital in Cathedral Hill unless the proposal can be amended to serve the needs of all of the city's patients and residents.

What: Clergy Lead Candlelight Vigil In Support of St. Luke's Nurses, Patients
When:Tuesday, December 1, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Where: St. Luke's Hospital, Valencia @ Cesar Chavez, San Francisco

CPMC is planning deep cuts to the quality and range of care provided to St. Luke's patients as part of plans which were recently submitted to the city planning department. The plans would create a separate but unequal healthcare system, with residents in the southern half offered lower-quality care than more affluent residents from the north. CPMC's Master Plan calls for:

- A 62% reduction in beds available at St. Luke's Hospital (from 225 to 82)
- An 82% reduction in CPMC beds that are appropriate for seniors on Medicare-with all of them now concentrated at St. Luke's (although geriatric specialists would be relocated to Cathedral Hill)
- Ongoing reductions in patient care units and services offered to St. Luke's patients

"By working together, patients, seniors, immigrants, and St. Luke's doctors, nurses, and caregivers were able to force CPMC to agree to rebuild St. Luke's. But our struggle to save this hospital and its valuable services to our community is not yet over," said Rev. Israel Alvaran, a local interfaith leader. "Our faith traditions teach us to stand by those in need of care and shelter, to welcome to the poor, and to bind the wounded. and we are struggling to keep the healthcare services our community needs."

"CPMC has made clear that seniors are not a high priority," said Joseph Smooke, Executive Director of Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. "They're claiming that St. Luke's will focus on senior health, but want all the specialists that seniors need located somewhere else. They're also reducing Medicare beds when the city projects a 30 percent shortage of skilled nursing beds by 2020. They even cut funding to our community-based senior services programs because we wouldn't toe their political line to support the deluxe Cathedral Hill hospital."

"As Registered Nurses, we are obligated to advocate for our patients, and I have to say that there is a terrible public health danger posed by CPMC's efforts to slash services at St. Luke's. What's good enough for Cathedral Hill should be good enough for St. Luke's. What message does it send when medically-underserved patients, often Latino and African-American, are offered fewer services, fewer resources, fewer nurses, and fewer beds? How can CPMC so willingly embrace this medical redlining?" asked Jane Sandoval, RN, a nurse at St. Luke's.

The community activists are demanding equality in services offered at St. Luke's and the Cathedral Hill hospitals--both inpatient and outpatient--before the City approves CPMC's Master Plan. In addition, they demand that the chain listen to neighbors and integrate the hospital design into existing neighborhoods, and reach fair agreements with strong patient safety protections for RNs and caregivers at the facility.

The planning commission is expected to hear the case in early 2010, with the Board of Supervisors needing to approve the project as well.

Source
California Nurses Association

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