These RivCo Nurses Have Walked Off The Job. Here's Why

PALM SPRINGS, CA — Nurses walked off the job at six different hospitals across California on Thursday to protest staffing cuts they say are jeopardizing care for the most vulnerable patients.

Nurses issued a 10 day notice of the planned strike to Tenet hospitals, including one in Palm Springs and another in Joshua Tree, on Oct. 20, to allow management to make other plans for patient care, according to the California Nurses Association, which represents 3,100 nurses across the six hospitals.

In Palm Springs, nurses of Desert Regional Medical Center say the hospital has sent working nurses home and created conditions that threaten the care of sick newborns.

“Tenet is jeopardizing patient care for the most vulnerable newborns in our hospital,” Deb Edwards, a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Desert Regional Medical Center, said in a statement. “We demand safe staffing for our precious babies and that Tenet live up to its stated values of ‘acting with integrity and the highest ethical standards, always.’”

At the Palm Springs hospital, nurses say Tenet is putting the fragile newborns at risk in the neonatal intensive care unit. The hospital was granted a waiver that was meant to be used to cut staffing below the state-mandated safe patient ratios in that unit. The waiver was only meant to be used in emergency situations, the union says. However, the union says the waiver has been used on a continual basis.

"...even sending nurses home, creating conditions that threaten the care of these very sick newborns," the union said.

Desert Regional Medical Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch.

Here is what Tenet nurses are demanding of management:

• Guaranteed meal- and rest-break coverage. "Most nurses work 12-hour shifts and need time to eat and regroup so they can be present for all their patients,"
• Improvements to recruitment and retention of experienced nurses. "Experienced nurses are critical to safe patient care and serve as mentors to newer nurses,"
• Lift teams to help with turning and lifting patients. "Dedicated staff for the recurring task of lifting patients helps reduce injury to patients and nurses,"
• Safe staffing at all times. "When there are not adequate nurses and ancillary staff on a unit, patient care is delayed, which can lead to harm for our patients," according to the union statement.

The union says Tenet has gathered national attention for how "its failures to invest in adequate nursing staff and resources in its hospitals fuel moral injury and distress while putting patient care in jeopardy."

Last year, CNA says Tenet profited $4.1 billion — up from 1.3 billion in 2023.

The CEO, Saum Sutaria, is the highest-paid health care CEO in the country, with a take home pay of more than $24 million last year, the union says.

Registered nurses walked off the job in San Ramon, Manteca, Modesto, Turlock, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree on Thursday.

“It’s clear to the nurses that Tenet is prioritizing profits over patients,” said Joeton Labos, an ICU nurse at San Ramon Medical Center in San Ramon. “We continue to lose experienced nurses to other area hospitals, which jeopardizes our ability to provide safe patient care. We will do everything in our power to fight for our patients, and that includes going out on strike!“