Nurses fall in line on possible strike at USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital

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Nurses at USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital took action in the face of contract negotiations that have dragged on since last Mayby taking a strike vote Thursday and Friday, and 85% of the nurses who voted supported a strike, according to the nurses union representative.
Sara Cardine, La Canada Valley Sun

San Bernardino County nurses ratify new pact

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Registered nurses who work at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) and other San Bernardino County health facilities voted by 93 percent to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement.
Fontana Herald News

Alta Bates To Face Fines For Failing To Follow Infectious Disease Protocols

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The Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been fined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health for willfully violating safety protocols that put staff, patients and visitors at high risk of contracting infectious diseases. Ironically, this violation was discovered as Cal/OSHA personnel were investigating the hospital for another safety transgression.
Dianne Depra, Tech Times

Op-Ed: Transparency, Consistency Needed in Not-For-Profit Rules

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Once again, California legislators are considering legislation to establish uniformity and transparency for charity care and community benefit programs -- SB 346, authored by Sen. Bob Wieckowski. Once again, the hospital giants are scrambling to prevent it.
Zenei Cortez, Co-president, California Nurses Association, Published in California Healthline

North County Cares Coalition to Hold Day of Action for Restoration of a Full Service Hospital

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On the one-year anniversary of the illegal closing of North Adams Regional Hospital on March 28, 2014the North County Cares Coalition (NCCC) is hosting a day of action and demonstrations as part of a year-long effort to restore a full service hospital to meet the significant health care needs of the 37,000 residents of Northern Berkshire County who are currently going without access to needed services, and are forced to travel a long distance to receive services they used to receive close to home.
North County Cares Coalition press release

Sutter’s Fine - What Else Are They Hiding at Alta Bates?

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More than a dozen nurses from Sutter corporation’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center gathered outside the facility’s Oakland hospital Wednesday afternoon to alert the public to ongoing safety problems at the hospital – even after it was slapped with a maximum fine by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).
California Nurses Association

Hard Facts

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The management of Huntington Memorial Hospital (HMH) would have the Pasadena community believe that it is a great hospital and that current efforts by its registered nurses to form a labor union in affiliation with the California Nurses Association (CNA) will lead to ruin. It may be hard for management to admit, but neither claim could be further from the truth.
John Grula, PhD, Pasadena Weekly

Sutter Health to pay fines for safety violations at Alta Bates

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Sutter Health has agreed to pay $71,275 in fines issued by Cal/OSHA after an investigation found safety violations for handling patients with suspected airborne diseases at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland.
Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle

Despite High Rates of Nursing Injuries, Government Regulators Take Little Action

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As NPR has been reporting in its Injured Nurses series, nursing employees suffer more back and arm injuries than just about any other occupations, but studies show that hospitals can reduce the number of injuries dramatically if they buy special equipment to move patients and conduct intensive training to teach the staff how to use it.
Daniel Zwerdling, NPR