FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

June 23, 2022

LANCASTER, Calif. – Hundreds of Antelope Valley Medical Center employees and allies rallied at Antelope Valley Medical Center, 1600 W Avenue J in Lancaster, to protest the hospital’s threat to worker and patient safety due to short staffing.

“Staffing has been so critically low during this pandemic that many of the staff have left. Patient care suffers as workers are stretched thin and rushed. We’re forced to take on more patients, which leaves much less time for one-on-one patient care,” said Lourdes Perez, a nurse technician at Antelope Valley Medical Center. “Our co-workers are seeing wages go up at places like Target and grocery stores and are leaving the healthcare field altogether for better-paying jobs. Management at Antelope Valley needs to invest more into the workers whom this community depends on.”

More than 1,200 Antelope Valley Hospital employees are members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), and their contract with the hospital expires on June 30, 2022.

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Media Contact: Renée Saldaña – [email protected]

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a healthcare justice union of more than 100,000 healthcare workers, patients, and healthcare activists united to ensure affordable, accessible, high-quality care for all Californians, provided by valued and respected healthcare workers.