FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 15, 2023
Media contact: Renée Saldaña, [email protected]
OAKLAND, Calif. – Over the course of two weeks, thousands of healthcare workers will protest and picket throughout March at 26 Dignity Health facilities across California. Dignity Health workers say they are chronically understaffed in just about every department, putting patients and caregivers at risk.
“We are so short-staffed, we only have time to see the sickest of the sick,” said Andrea Tuma, a respiratory therapist at Dignity’s Mercy Medical Center in Redding. “Those with chronic, non-urgent needs have to wait, usually until those needs become urgent. We end the day feeling like we didn’t do enough when we did everything we could.”
In a report published last year by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), 77% of Dignity Health workers surveyed described their working conditions as ‘severely’ or ‘somewhat’ understaffed.
SEIU-UHW represents approximately 18,000 Dignity Health workers statewide. Caregivers joining the protests represent a variety of job classes, including respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, dietitians, laboratory assistants, social workers, environmental services/housekeeping, and many other frontline staff. They are calling on their employer to listen to and work with healthcare workers to address the staffing crisis through ongoing contract negotiations.
Dignity Health is part of one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the country, CommonSpirit Health, which earned over $5.4 billion in profits in fiscal year 2021.
PICKET SCHEDULE:
| 3/16 | 11am-2pm | Mercy General Hospital | 4001 J St, Sacramento |
| 3/16 | 11am-2pm | Saint John’s Hospital Camarillo | 2309 Antonio Ave, Camarillo |
| 3/17 | 11:30am-1:30pm | Mark Twain Medical Center | 768 Mountain Ranch Rd, San Andreas |
| 3/17 | 11am-1pm | St. Elizabeth Community Hospital | 2550 Sister Mary Columba Dr, Red Bluff |
| 3/20 | 11am-1pm | St. Mary Medical Center | 1050 Linden Ave, Long Beach |
| 3/20 | 11am-1pm | Bakersfield Memorial Hospital | 420 34th St., Bakersfield |
| 3/20 | 11am-1pm | St. Joseph Medical Center | 1800 N. California St., Stockton |
| 3/21 | 11am-1pm | Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield | 400 Old River Rd, Bakersfield |
| 3/21 | 12pm-2pm | Dominican Hospital | 1555 Soquel Dr, Santa Cruz |
| 3/21 | 11am-1pm | Mercy San Juan Medical Center | 6501 Coyle Ave, Carmichael |
| 3/24 | 11am-1pm | Dignity Foundation | 3000 Q St., Sacramento |
| 3/27 | 11am-1pm | Northridge Hospital Medical Center | 18300 Roscoe Blvd, Northridge |
| 3/27 | 1-3pm | St. Joseph’s Behavioral Health Center | 2510 North California St, Stockton |
| 3/27 | 11:30am-1:30pm | Mercy Medical Center of Redding | 2175 Rosaline Ave, Redding |
| 3/28 | 11am-1pm | California Hospital Medical Center | 1401 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles |
| 3/28 | 11am-1pm | Community Hospital of San Bernardino | 1805 Medical Center Dr, San Bernardino |
| 3/28 | 11am-2pm | Marian Medical Center | 1400 E Church St, Santa Maria |
| 3/28 | 11am-1pm | St. Francis Memorial Hospital | 900 Hyde St, San Francisco |
| 3/29 | 11am-1pm | Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield | 2215 Truxtun Ave. Bakersfield, |
| 3/29 | 11am-1pm | Woodland Hospital | 1325 Cottonwood St., Woodland |
| 3/29 | 1-4pm | Mercy Hospital of Folsom | 1650 Creekside Dr, Folsom |
| 3/30 | 11am-2pm | St. John’s Regional Medical Center | 1600 N Rose Ave, Oxnard |
| 3/30 | 11am-1pm | St. Bernardine Medical Center | 2101 N Waterman Ave, San Bernardino |
| 3/30 | 11am-1pm | St. Mary’s Medical Center | 450 Stanyan St, San Francisco |
| 3/30 | 11am-1pm | Methodist Hospital of Sacramento | 7500 Hospital Dr, Sacramento, CA 95823 |
| 3/31 | 11am-1pm | Arroyo Grande Community Hospital | 345 S Halcyon Rd, Arroyo Grande |
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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.