Palm Springs nurses hold one-day strike over safety concerns

A sea of roughly 500 red-dressed and sign-waving Desert Regional Medical Center nurses took over North Indian Canyon Drive on Thursday, Oct. 30, as they took part in a one-day strike in response to stalled contract negotiations with Tenet Healthcare.

Nurses in Palm Springs and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, represented by the California Nurses Association, joined thousands of others at California Tenet facilities to demand more for patient safety. There are 930 nurses represented by the union at Desert Regional and around 80 nurses at Hi-Desert. In total, CNA represents 3,100 nurses at six Tenet sites statewide.

The health care workers stood along North Indian Canyon Drive, in front of the hospital, holding signs that read “RNs on strike for safe patient care” and “Safe staffing now.” Several drivers passing by honked their horns in support, which elicited cheers from the nurses.

The one-day strike comes after a three-year nurses union contract expired in June. CNA representative Kristin Southall said the union has been in negotiations since February, with slowed progress since then. In recent years, CNA nurses have held pickets and rallies in front of the hospital to bring awareness to staffing shortages and patient safety concerns, which continued to be top of mind during Thursday’s strike.

Nurses said they have been “so disappointed” with recent negotiations, adding that Tenet representatives did not show up to the bargaining table during their last meeting.

A statement from Desert Care Network, which oversees Desert Regional, Hi-Desert and JFK Memorial in Indio, states that the company has “been negotiating in good faith with the union to reach a new contract and even proposed to the union that the parties engage in a mediation to attempt to resolve any differences. Rather than engage in productive mediation and negotiations, the union provided us with its intent to strike.”

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Nurses have 4 areas of concern with patient safety

Desert Regional nurses are urging Tenet to invest in four areas that they say will benefit not only their employees but also patients. Those include:

Guaranteed meal- and rest-break coverage
Improvements to recruitment and retention of experienced nurses
Lift teams to help with turning and listing patients
Safe staffing levels at all times

Linda Serrano, a registered nurse with Desert Regional for 10 years, said hospital management has augmented beds, leading to patients being held in areas where they shouldn’t be in and nurses being pulled from their units to provide help in those makeshift areas.

“Staffing is our No. 1 issue. We have a lot of complaints,” Serrano said. She recalled times when, if there was a heavier patient who needed to be moved and required several nurses to help, management would instead send nurses home mid-shift. She said that is because “they want to save the hourly wage of the nurse … so instead of completing 12 hours, they complete nine and that saves the extra three hours of wages.” Serrano added that she has been sent home mid-shift “frequently.”

As a medical surgical unit nurse, she typically has five patients under her supervision, who she helps prep for procedures, gets them moving and provides education to when they are discharged. However, she added that “we also get pressure to turn over and get people out, so I may touch a total of eight patients a day,” which is “too much.”

She also expressed the need for new hires to receive more training time. When Serrano was hired, she received 16 weeks of training, while new recruits receive six weeks.

“We want to formalize the education so everybody’s on a standard board,” Serrano said. “That way there’s no intimidation.”

Caroline Nganga, a 20-year registered nurse, said she took part in the strike so that patients can receive the quality of care that they deserve. That comes in the form of providing adequate staffing, equipment and training.

“This is our community. We care for it as much as anybody else,” Nganga said. “If my family member has an issue, this is the same place they’re going to, so I want them or any other patients that’s in this hospital to get the best care possible.”

Nganga added that she was protesting out in front of the hospital since 6 a.m., and she would continue until 8 p.m.

On top of the four areas of concern already outlined by CNA, Serrano hopes the one-day strike will send a clear message to Tenet and get them back to the bargaining table. Tenet said in a statement, “We stand ready to resume good faith negotiations at the strike’s conclusion.”

Tenet hospitals remain open during nurses strike

Desert Care Network stated that Desert Regional and Hi-Desert medical centers “will remain fully operational during the strike, and our staff’s focus, as always, will be on providing exceptional quality patient care and service.”

“Patients and their loved ones can be assured that our hospitals will be staffed with qualified and experienced replacement nurses as well as all of our other caregivers through the strike’s duration,” the statement read.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

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