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LAKEPORT, Calif. — Frontline care workers from Sutter Lakeside and other Sutter Health hospitals gathered on Tuesday to hold a picket to advocate for better working conditions for staff and increased service for patients, with hospital leadership responding with assurances of their commitments to patient care and staff.
The picket took place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Sutter Lakeside Hospital complex, on property owned by Quest Diagnostics.
Staff with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West held signs and waved at honking visitors in the middle of the Tuesday heat.
They also chanted.
“What do we want?”
“One contract!”
“When do we want it?”
“Now!”
Sutter Lakeside, hailed as “tiny but mighty” by its staff, is facing key issues such as staffing cuts and what they emphasized are unsafe staffing levels, cutting of services and corporate greed, with six chief executive officers in the Sutter system making over $1 million each.
Staff also are concerned about what’s ahead for the hospital in light of deep federal cuts to Medicaid passed by Congress earlier this year. They said that they are not receiving a clear picture of the hospital’s future and communications with hospital leadership are very poor.
Victoria Halvorsen has worked at Sutter Lakeside for nine years. She previously worked in the emergency room and now serves as the physical therapy department coordinator.
“We need help here,” said Halvorsen, adding that the hospital’s front line workers make the money to pay those CEOs.
Halvorsen worries that the cuts to Medicaid — which in California is known as Medi-Cal — will have a heavy impact on Sutter Lakeside, which is one of the only hospitals to accept that funding for physical therapy.
“It is going to hit these hospitals,” she said.
Halvorsen and Andy Hurt, who works in the emergency room at Sutter Santa Rosa, Sutter Lakeside’s sister hospital, raised issues of unsafe staffing.
Hurt said Sutter Lakeside is the first contact for the northern part of the Sutter Health hospital system. It stabilizes patients before moving them to the next hospital. “We are so thankful for Lakeside.”
“We want the best care for our communities and our patients,” said Halvorsen, adding that their patients are their family.
Hurt said sometimes they take care of their patients their entire lives.
Halvorsen, who has seen the hospital so busy that patients were lined up in the hallways, pointed to particular concerns in her department. She said respiratory therapists have to stay with patients and can't leave them, and that there have been instances where there has only been one therapist for multiple patients, causing them to have to make decisions about who to care for.
“How do you live with having to pick and choose?” Halvorsen asked.
She said there were instances in which therapists had to stay on duty for 16 to 24 hours because they couldn't leave a patient.
Hurt also pointed to the need for ancillary staff for cleaning, and for specific cleaning such as after tuberculosis patients, and not having that kind of help available.
While staff raised issues with quality of care, Sutter Lakeside leadership told Lake County News in an emailed statement afterward, “Our hospital has received a five-star rating for overall hospital quality from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and multiple ‘A’ grades from The Leapfrog Group for hospital safety — recognitions that reflect our commitment to preventing errors and ensuring patient well-being and placing us among the top 10% of hospitals nationwide.”
Regarding the concerns about respiratory therapy, staffing levels and safety, the hospital said it’s “committed to providing the highest standard of care, including ensuring that respiratory therapists and all clinical staff have the support they need to care for patients safely and effectively. Staffing is continuously monitored and adjusted to meet patient needs, and we follow strict protocols to prioritize patient safety at all times. We also offer clear and accessible channels for staff to surface their concerns directly to leadership so they can be addressed.”
Union officials said they started negotiations with Sutter on July 24. The last time they ended negotiations on a contract was in December 2021, and those had required a federal negotiator to bring them to a conclusion.
As she watched staff come out on their breaks to join her and her fellow picketers, Halvorsen said, “I am so proud of this little facility.”
A picket took place at Sutter Santa Rosa on Monday. In addition to Santa Rosa and Lakeport, rolling pickets are planned across six more Sutter facilities into next week.
They include Sutter Solano in Vallejo, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14; Alta Bates, Berkeley, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, Aug. 18; Roseville, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 19; California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21; Sutter Eden, Castro Valley, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22; and Sutter Delta, Antioch, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, Aug. 25.
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