California state senators will get their first look Wednesday at this year’s version of legislation that would finally require non-profit hospital giants to live up to their obligation on provision of charity care and community benefit programs in return for the windfall in taxpayer funded revenues they receive in return for their tax exempt status.

Registered Nurses at Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles will gather Monday, April 20 for a candlelight vigil, speaking out against a management demand for unilateral changes in work schedules—in violation of their present contract—that they say could prompt many RNs to leave, depriving patients of access to experienced RNs.

More than 6,400 registered nurses will hold either a one or two-day strike April 30 and May 1 at eight California hospitals, as well as at a major Chicago hospital. RNs are calling on hospitals to stop endangering patients by implementing safe staffing levels and taking steps to retain experienced RNs. They are also demanding policies that give RNs a stronger voice in patient care delivery.

The registered nurses of Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center (JPH), on Chicago’s South Side, are taking a stand for their patients on Thursday, at a press conference announcing that years’ worth of forms documenting unsafe staffing and dangerous patient care conditions—long ignored by administration—will be delivered to the Illinois Department of Public Health and other regulatory agencies.

Will California finally require non-profit hospital giants to live up to their obligation on provision of charity care and community benefit programs in return for the windfall in taxpayer funded revenues they receive in return for their tax exempt status?

The registered nurses of Newton Wellesley Hospital, who are negotiating a new contract with Partners Health Care, will conduct an informational picket outside the Wellesley-based hospital on April 16 from 2 – 4:30 p.m. to protest efforts by Partners to boost its multi-million dollar profits margin by cutting patients access to appropriate nursing care.

Registered nurses are calling on the wealthy Sutter corporation to keep open an endangered residential drug and alcohol treatment center in Oakland for teenagers, including those from low income families.