Business & Tech
Workers Protest At Petaluma Valley, Queen Of The Valley Hospitals
Workers at the two North Bay hospitals say a proposed Northern California health-care merger would reduce staffing and create a monopoly.
PETALUMA, CA — Employees are protesting staffing levels Thursday at two Providence St. Joseph hospitals in the North Bay. The protest was set to start at 11:30 a.m. at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa and Petaluma Valley Hospital in Petaluma.
Providence St. Joseph plans to merge its hospitals with Northern California hospitals belonging to Adventist Health System/West.
A survey by the National Union of Healthcare Workers claims 92 percent of bedside caregivers at Providence St. Joseph hospitals in Northern California report their shifts are understaffed at least once a week. Nursing assistants reported have to care for as many as 20 patients at a time, according to the union's survey.
Find out what's happening in Petalumafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Employees claim Providence St. Joseph is demanding in contract negotiations the unlimited right to cancel caregivers' shifts even if it worsens understaffing.
Providence St. Joseph was formed by the 2016 merger of Providence Health & Services with St. Joseph Health, which operates Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Petaluma Valley Hospital and two Northern California hospitals.
Find out what's happening in Petalumafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Employees say the merger of Providence St. Joseph and Adventist Health System/West will drastically reduce services at St. Helena Hospital in Napa County and give the new company a monopoly of acute health care hospitals.
Frank Beirne, interim regional chief operating officer at St. Joseph Health in Northern California said in a statement, "We want the same thing as our caregivers represented by unions — contracts that provide competitive pay and benefits to support caregivers and their families, and that allow us to attract and retain the best talent while remaining good stewards of our resources."
Beirne said, "We look forward to getting back to the bargaining table so we can continue working together toward our shared goals."
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- Health-Care Merger Focus Of Public Hearing At Napa City Hall
- Proposed Napa County Health Care Merger: Nurses Express Concern
—Bay City News Service