Local Caregivers Hosting Town Hall on State of Health Care in Humboldt County on Monday
This is a press release from the National Union of Healthcare Workers:
WHAT: Health Care Town Hall
WHEN: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 25
WHERE: Wharfinger Building, 1 Marina Way, Eureka
MODERATOR: Supervisor Steve Madrone
ATTENDEES: Supervisors Virginia Bass and Mike Wilson; Eureka Councilmembers Kim Bergel and Austin Allison
* St. Joseph Humboldt County CEO Roberta Luskin-Hawk declined an invitation to participate in the Town Hall
Over the past year, Providence St Joseph Health’s Redwood Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital have reported a combined $58 million annual profit, while laying off more than two-dozen caregivers.
Hospital executives have also failed to meet their obligation to provide charity care for Humboldt patients who can’t afford their bills and refused to heed caregiver warnings that the hospitals are dangerously understaffed. A recent survey, conducted by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), found that 68 percent of caregivers at the two hospitals reported difficulty providing quality patient care at least once each week because of understaffing. Seventy-seven percent said they were frequently working in “crisis mode,” having to do too many tasks too quickly.
As the dominant health care provider in Humboldt County, Providence St. Joseph has a special duty to care for Humboldt County residents. Yet, it has refused to provide its caregivers with information disclosing how it sets staffing ratios and why it has been cutting staff and reducing services while reaping windfall profits. In response, caregivers, represented by NUHW and the California Nurses Association, have scheduled a Town Hall meeting Monday focusing on the state of local health care.
Facilitated by Supervisor Steve Madrone, the Town Hall will provide caregivers and patients a chance to share their experiences and explore solutions for ensuring that nonprofit health care providers like Providence St. Joseph re-invest their revenues into improving care in Humboldt County. Additionally, Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Don Baird will give a countywide perspective on the state of local health care.
“Caregivers have been sounding the alarm about the understaffing crisis in our hospitals,” said Meredyth Dielmann, a laboratory technician at Redwood Memorial Hospital. “This forum is the first step for our community to hold Providence St. Joseph accountable and make sure Humboldt County residents get the quality care they deserve.”
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
🕯Thank you Oliver for this information.
Why isn’t Mad River Hospital included?
Because it’s a Union event, not a town hall meeting.
Supervisor Madrone would find it inconvenient to raise the same issues with Mad River Hospital which is in his district. He’d been better off not to become a tool. Don’t you love the term “caregivers” as a euphemism for paid employees? Even the “press release” is worded as an attack piece on St. Joseph management so solutions to problems are not the goal. Too bad. There are issues that need addressing but this is only going to make it worse.
So if this was about welders you’d complain “why are they using the euthmism welders instead of calling them paid employees?”
It’s an accurate job title.
It’s not an article about “caregivers”. It’s an article about a union sponsored event. The more accurate term to use in the case of a management/employee disagreement is-tah tah- employee because the Union’s goals are to advantage their members, not the patients. That’s as it’s designed to be. Nothing intrinsically wrong with it but it’s as much a lie to imply their goals are all for the patient’s good while the cost saving efforts of management is to the harm of the patient. It harms the patients equally whether poor care comes from costs cutting, poor employee behavior or from the wrong staff being the only ones available.
Drawing a curtain across the emergency room bay provides the illusion privacy for the patient but also provides the illusion of privacy for the employees. Unfortunately it does not prevent the patient from hearing what’s going on. And what goes on is not all respectful of the patient by all “caregivers.” Anyone who has been in one knows that employees may be a necessity but management is needed too. The patient suffers from any war of words between the two.
All caregivers (a normal term for people who care for the sick or elderly) are paid unless they are family members. What’s your point?
Go madrone the people of humboldt are watching and seeing you as our only good representative in the county,a discussion at a get together latly concluded we need to flush your peers cuz there just treasonous theiving trash! !!!! Thank God we have a shred of dignity left in our elected representation! !!!
Several facets of staffing in healthcare facilities have become problematic in recent years:
#1) Facilities staff to control daily costs, rather than to provide patient safety. The making of money for the corporation has supplanted the mission professed by the organization.
#2) Hospital HR folk have become unable to recruit, retain, onboard, train, certify competency, or do much of anything else. If you look in the HR office at St Joseph’s, you will find the highest staffing level in the building, but the least competent employees! HR operations, in the average Northern California hospital, have lost their focus, have become buried in controlling costs, and merely hire and fire, instead of doing their job, which is to develop a staff of trained, licensed, and competent professional to concentrate on meeting the healthcare needs of the community.
#3) All too often, the department managers are forced to “manage costs” instead of managing the staff while insuring that staffing levels are adequate, often as required by state and federal law. Managers are rewarded for controlling spending, instead of doing their job, which is to provide for patient safety, workplace safety, and to control staff burnout.
#4) Many hospitals staff for “the next 10 minutes” instead of “staffing for current and future needs”. Often, full time employees will be hired, and will be expected to fill in any space in the schedule as a “variable shift” or to provide “relief”. Many folks at St Josephs are hired as “per-diems”, in order to save the costs of benefits, and so that the employee’s status is not clearly defined. This kind of “old-school” staffing is a clear indication that an employer has little regard for the welfare of the employees, and even less regard for adequate staffing levels.
5) There exists a huge army of “Healthcare Recruiters” who work for “Agencies”, who are happy to exploit large numbers of less than optimal employees, who have decided that, instead of getting a regular job, they would rather work as “tourists”, here and there, in 13 week blocks. The huge group of “travelers” have ruined regular employment for an entire generation, since the facility can replace anyone at all, from Phlebotomists to
Physicians, with a simple computer program that the HR staff uses to obtain temporary staff from a country-wide group of semi-retired and other groups of professionals. The use of Travelers is the weak link in staffing, but HR departments depend, day to day, on staffing this way.
6) Currently, there are agencies which contract with non-citizens, and sponsor the non-citizen to an H1B visa, and then send the employee out as a “traveler”. Many of these folks are paid substantially less than a citizen, have lower skill levels and educational standards, and have less experience or none at all. Obviously, hospitals want to pay as little as possible for the staff they do have, and this is just another way to “shave costs” while covering shifts and reducing the job security of the regular staff! HiB visa aliens are a new generation of “indentured servants” and so far, they appear to be flying below the public’s consciousness.
7) Low salaries and poor conditions have stretched the tolerance of hospital employees to the limit, resulting in resignations, retirements, labor actions, unionization, and general burnout. Patient safety, quality of care, facility safety and maintenance, and the ability of the facility to simply care for the patients is suffering significantly.
This is a short summation of some of the staffing issues facing hospitals in California, and in Humboldt particularly. Hospitals in Mendocino, including Mendo Coast, Howard, and UVMC are also suffering in quality, and staff unlucky enough to be working at local facilities are finding that they are expected to do the work of two or more staff, for lower than a competitive salary and benefits, while enduring a hostile work environment, often enduring harassment, gas-lighting, and abuse.
Persons in local communities are advised to become involved, preferably on a pre-need basis! If you wait until you are a patient, you may be amazed by exactly how bad things have become!
Easy answer:
It is abysmal
It is sad that Unions get installed in Hospitals, usually since employees (caregivers?) are unable to get decent conditions and compensation from companies like St Josephs. Unions almost always cause negotiations to drag on and on, and inter-staff relations to turn into battles over seniority and tenure.
When choosing a hospital to work in, remember to ask if there is a Union involved. If there is, it almost always means that there are significant problems between staff and management.
And look at it this way: A union is an unnecessary entity, a construct. Unions exist because employees can’t negotiate!
Having a Union is sort of like “buying followers” on Instagram!
Unions further gum up the workings of hospitals! Go look at Mendocino Coast Hospital, where struggles with the Union nearly shut down the whole place, in 2013-2014…
It’s interesting that in Eureka, a union of healthcare workers is promoting communication between the community and the hospitals! Why are they inculcating themselves into this dysfunctional formula?
Well, Unions are like Corporations! They exist, to make money for the Union! A union is a false prophet, a scurrilous crook that exists to take the money of honest “caregivers”, a term I never heard in 42 years in healthcare, until yesterday!
“Healthcare Employees”, help to educate your community, learn to negotiate, and reject Unions! They will not improve the situation, and no Union can force an evil corporation like St Joseph’s to change!
Several facets of staffing in healthcare facilities have become problematic in recent years:
#1) Facilities staff to control daily costs, rather than to provide patient safety. The making of money for the corporation has supplanted the mission professed by the organization.
#2) Hospital HR folk have become unable to recruit, retain, onboard, train, certify competency, or do much of anything else. If you look in the HR office at St Joseph’s, you will find the highest staffing in any department in the building, but the least competent employees! HR operations, in the average Northern California hospital, have lost their focus, have become buried in controlling costs, and, merely hire and fire, instead of doing their job, which is to develop a staff of trained, licensed, and competent professional to concentrate on meeting the healthcare needs of the community.
#3) All too often, the department managers are forced to “manage costs” instead of managing the staff while insuring that staffing levels are adequate, often as required by state and federal law. Managers are rewarded for controlling spending, instead of doing their job, which is to provide for patient safety, workplace safety, and to control staff burnout.
#4) Many hospitals staff for “the next 10 minutes” instead of “staffing for current and future needs”. Often, full time employees will be hired, and will be expected to fill in any space in the schedule as a “variable shift” or to provide “relief”. Many folks at St Josephs are hired as “per-diems”, in order to save the costs of benefits, and so that the employee’s status is not clearly defined. This kind of “old-school” staffing is a clear indication that an employer has little regard for the welfare of the employees, and even less regard for adequate staffing levels.
5) There exists a huge army of “Healthcare Recruiters” who work for “Agencies”, who are happy to exploit large numbers of less than optimal employees, who have decided that, instead of getting a regular job, they would rather work as “tourists”, here and there, in 13 week blocks. The huge group of “travelers” have ruined regular employment for an entire generation, since the facility can replace anyone at all, from Phlebotomists to
Physicians, with a simple computer program that the HR staff uses to obtain temporary staff from a country-wide group of semi-retired and other groups of professionals. The use of Travelers is the weak link in staffing, but HR departments depend, day to day, on staffing this way.
6) Currently, there are agencies which contract with non-citizens, and sponsor the non-citizen to an H1B visa, and then send the employee out as a “traveler”. Many of these folks are paid substantially less than a citizen, have lower skill levels and educational standards, and have less experience or none at all. Obviously, hospitals want to pay as little as possible for the staff they do have, and this is just another way to “shave costs” while covering shifts and reducing the job security of the regular staff! H1B visa aliens are a new generation of “indentured servants” and so far, they appear to be flying below the public’s consciousness.
7) Low salaries and poor conditions have stretched the tolerance of hospital employees to the limit, resulting in resignations, retirements, labor actions, unionization, and general burnout. Patient safety, quality of care, facility safety and maintenance, and the ability of the facility to simply care for the patients is suffering significantly.
This is a short summation of some of the staffing issues facing hospitals in California, and in Humboldt particularly. Hospitals in Mendocino, including Mendo Coast, Howard, and UVMC are also suffering in quality, and staff unlucky enough to be working at local facilities are finding that they are expected to do the work of two or more staff, for lower than a competitive salary and benefits, while enduring a hostile work environment, often enduring harassment, gas-lighting, and abuse.
Persons in local communities are advised to become involved, preferably on a pre-need basis! If you wait until you are a patient, you may be amazed by exactly how bad things have become!
Family members can be paid through In Home Support Services (IHSS) a government funded program.
Free-Market Medicine: The Role of the Large Medical Firm
https://mises.org/wire/free-market-medicine-role-large-medical-firm (2 1/2 pgs), July 14, 2016.
I pretty much shudder to think that an idea like the above could fly! The farther we go, the worse things get, especially with faith-based corporations (now there’s an oxymoron!) like St Joseph’s and Adventist Health working to take over small hospitals in Northern CA. Sutter Health is even worse!
As in Marijuana, the harm will be caused by the money! Get the money out of healthcare, and it might improve.
What we have now, in Humboldt, Mendo, and beyond, is healthcare by the lowest common denominator, healthcare applied by the least educated and lowest paid, and the closer to the city, the worse it gets!
Really what exists, is “quality healthcare for those who can afford it!”
I still say, the best thing to do in Humboldt, is get in your car and take your business elsewhere. Healthcare is a consumable, after all…
A public servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understands, he will not answer.
Proverbs 29:19
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