Registered nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital (MDIH), in Bar Harbor, ME will hold an informational picket on Thursday June 26, over ongoing concerns about the safe and proper use of healthcare technology.

Following a decision Tuesday by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to table a sales tax to, in part, help embattled Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, DMC registered nurses today announced plans to hold a picket July 1 to demand the county assume operation of DMC with existing revenues and retain it as a full service hospital.

In response to excessive patient assignments for nurses and the hospital’s refusal to provide safe RN staffing to ensure appropriate patient care, the registered nurses of Lawrence General Hospital plan to conduct an informational picket outside the entrance to the hospital on Thursday, June 26 from 2 – 4 p.m. to take their concerns directly to the public.

A TV and radio campaign has been launched to highlight spendthrift hospital CEOs stashing millions of tax dollars in offshore accounts and rewarding themselves with extravagant compensation packages. The launch of the statewide TV and radio campaign is timed to focus on the end of the legislative session. It urges residents to call their state legislators and demand greater transparency in hospital finances. The ad shows two hospital CEOs clicking glasses of champagne on a beach in the Cayman Islands and enjoying a lavish taxpayer subsidized lifestyle.

Legislation to assure California hospitals have stronger measures to reduce workplace violence incidents continues to move forward in the California state legislature as it passed its second Assembly test today. Senate Bill 1299, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, and sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, was approved by the Assembly Health Committee today, and heads next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for consideration, probably later this summer. The bill won approval by the California Senate last month.