Registered nurses will hold a social distancing protest Thursday over plans by the giant health care chain HCA to shut down Women’s Services at its Regional Medical Center of San Jose. Assembly member Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, is expected to join them.

The planned closure, by the end of May in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, would put thousands of Latina and other working class San Jose residents in health care limbo who utilize Regional’s birthing services, including maternal child health and neo-natal intensive care.

What: Social distancing protest over closure of Women’s Services
When: Thursday, April 16, 3:30 p.m.
Where: Regional Medical Center, 225 N Jackson Ave, San Jose

On Thursday, nurses will step up pressure on HCA and Regional to reverse the decision. An online community petition to stop the closure has already garnered thousands of signers at https://www.change.org/p/community-of-east-san-jose-support-our-community-stop-the-closure-of-labor-and-delivery

“Nurses are deeply alarmed at what will happen to our patients, especially those already struggling in a medically underserved community who depend on this hospital for the most essential of all services – giving birth and caring for your newborn child,” said Mohini Jadhaw, a Labor and Delivery Regional RN.

“This unconscionable closure would be devastating for thousands of East Santa Clara County families, especially those who will now have to travel long distances on heavily congested roads for maternal care with time vital for their safe care,” said Labor and Delivery Regional RN Barbara Alexander.

“In the midst of a devastating pandemic that has already hit our county especially hard, the loss of this care close to home could force mothers to give birth in local emergency rooms, risking exposure to themselves and their newborns,” said Malinda Markowitz, RN, California Nurses Association President and a San Jose resident.

More than 2,600 babies have been born at Regional the past five years, with a 20 percent increase in the hospital birth rate since 2014. Regional accounts for 13 percent of the births, 23 percent of the perinatal beds, and 16 percent of the newborn baby bassinets of hospitals within a 10 mile radius.

HCA and Regional officials have yet to explain where it would send women needing pregnancy and childbirth related care. HCA’s only other hospital in the region, Good Samaritan Hospital, is on the other side of Santa Clara County, typically a 45 minute drive in heavy traffic – for those with cars – and even longer by public transit.

The hospital’s service area is a community with high poverty rates, especially for women and children. 42 percent of all patients in nearby neighborhoods who have used the hospital have child poverty levels more than double the county-wide rate. Poverty levels for Latinos, African Americans, and Asians in local neighborhoods are much higher than the county average.

Low income Medicaid patients who now have access to Regional, and any number of other expectant women, may well end up at the nearest other facility, the troubled county hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

That facility has been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, the infection of nurses and other staff, and rampant concerns about poor hospital communication with its staff and other concerns, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-10/coronavirus-silicon-valley-hospital-santa-clara-valley-medical-center

HCA plans to close the unit, including the layoff of some 70 registered nurses, despite Regional’s profits of over $43 million the past five years – and Regional just received an additional $7.5 million in federal stimulus funds, the first payment from the COVID-19 Congressional stimulus package approved last month.

HCA has more than enough wealth to maintain the services at regional. Over the past decade HCA has made more than $23 billion in profits.