As more than 6,500 nationwide nurses planned a strike against Tenet Health, local nurses with decades of experience took their complaints directly to the most recent meeting of the Los Al city council.
Longtime Los Al residents Richard Baldwin, standing together with Jennifer Gehry, both of whom have a combined five decades of service as registered nurses at Los Alamitos Medical Center, said they wanted the city to know what the strike was truly all about and “what was happening” to the city’s growing medical center.
According to Baldwin, Tenet Health, based in Dallas, owns three other hospitals in California in addition to Los Alamitos Medical. Since purchasing the facility, said Baldwin, the company has made “a lot of changes. This is my chance to explain to you what’s going on.”
“Most people think the strike is all about money,” said Baldwin. “It’s not. It’s about patient care and improved service.” He said the union has been in negotiation with the company since January, and while they are asking for a cost of living raise, what the registered nurses want more is a return of nursing assistants and other resources that have been taken from them, he said.
Baldwin claimed Tenet has paid more than $8 million in fines because nurses have missed more than 57,000 breaks between 2016 – 2018. “They’re (Tenet) are putting profits before people,” Baldwin said to city officials.
As a result of Tenet closing the local ob-gyn ward, local residents now must travel outside the area to have babies, said Baldwin. With Gehry looking on, Baldwin said “this is my home, this is my community hospital,” he said. Gehry said earlier, she had worked at Los Al Medical for 39 years.
Baldwin said the lack of support nurses sometimes makes him feel like telling his patients, “please don’t die while I go to the bath room.” “They have cut us beyond bones and we’re putting ourselves at risk,” he said, adding that he felt it was “unacceptable.”
Baldwin’s comments came in a portion of the meeting reserved for “oral communications” from the public in which the council is not allowed to comment.
Gary Miller, a former city official, also appeared before the council regarding the hospital, recounting how Baldwin had cared for his wife in Los Al Medical before she passed away after a 14-year battle with cancer.
He called on the community to support the nurses and said while Los Alamitos is a good hospital, he gave examples during his experiences there where it seemed from his own experiences that the company was attempting to “stretch the nursing staff.”
Tenet Health either did not a have a representative at the meeting or did not comment.
In other action, the city council also heard from many homeowners in the New Dutch Haven neighborhood, mostly opposed to the pending imposition of the street parking permit enforcement.
Many of the those speaking of the permits suggested enforcement of the street parking permits would usher in new hardships that are unnecessary.
George Towsend said the system was originally passed in 1992 but never enforced.
Resident Stan Davidson said enforcing the permits was like “applying a shotgun to a b.b. gun solution.” Davidson said he had lived in the New Dutch Haven for more than 33 years and the proposed permit system was “not wanted or needed.”
“I don’t want to beat a dead horse,” said resident Larry Andrade, but “it’s a waste of time and resources. He too remembered the parking permit system being created in the 1990’s when Los Al Racetrack charged for parking, but the problem “went away” when the track stopped charging for parking. “People do not want this program.”
Sandra Griffin went a step further, saying she felt like the city was “nickel and diming” residents for parking in front of their own homes.
Rob Stevens said the he attended the traffic commission meeting on Sept. 11 and thought “they did a good job. “We don’t want it. Others don’t want it.”
In other action, the council;
-Recognized the United Water Polo Club 14-year-old team for winning the Bronze Medal at the Junior Olympics.
-Heard council member Shelley Hasselbrink, who also serves as Vice Chair of the Orange County Fire Authority, thanked retired OCFA official Robert Acosta coming back into service to coordinate disaster preparedness as they proclaimed National Preparedness Month.
-heard retired City Manager Bret M. Plumlee thank the city and its residents for allowing him to serve six years and for their support. Before Plumlee, Mayor Warren Kusumoto said the city had endured 12 city managers in as many years. Plumlee retired Aug. 19. “This is a fantasic community,” said Plumlee, as other city officials heaped praise on the retired city manager for bringing “respect and stability” to the city.
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