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As firsthand witnesses and actual victims during this COVID-19 crisis of a health care and economic system that prioritizes money over people, members of California Nurses Association (CNA) and the Caregiver and Health Care Employees Union (CHEU) who work as registered nurses, respiratory therapists, lab and other technicians, and in other health care capacities are holding on Aug. 5 more than 200 protests across the United States to demand that our elected leaders, government, and hospital employers take immediate action to save lives.
See list of Los Angeles-area events below
Nurses and fellow health care workers advocate for their patients at all levels. Inside hospital walls, they want employers to protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients by following proper infection control practices, which include providing optimal PPE and a safe workload of patients. Outside hospital walls, they want Congress to help struggling households by urgently passing legislation to extend COVID-19 economic benefits that expired in July, for our government to invest in the public health of our communities, and for a dismantling of the structural racism that prematurely and disproportionately ends the lives of Black, Indigenous, people of color—whether it is by COVID-19 or at the hands of police violence.
Health care workers are demanding that the Senate pass the HEROES Act, a pending bill they are backing that would not only protect health care and other essential workers by ensuring domestic production of PPE through the Defense Production Act and by mandating that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration establish an emergency temporary standard on infectious diseases, but also provide desperately needed economic help in the form of cash payments, extended unemployment benefits, and daycare subsidies through the end of 2020 to families on the brink.
“Our health care providers know that this country’s rampant social, economic, and racial injustice has been killing our patients all along. COVID-19 is just forcing us as a society to face these problems,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN and executive director of National Nurses United, of which CNA and CHEU are a part. “These recent COVID surges and uncontrolled infections and deaths, the failure of employers to protect our nurses and other workers, the outrageously high rates of unemployment and hunger, the totalitarian crackdown on protesters—every crisis we are seeing now can be traced back to our failure to value human lives over profit.”
In Los Angeles, registered nurses and other health care worker colleagues see daily the prioritization of profits over patients through local hospitals’ management practices.
Actions happening Aug. 5 in Los Angeles:
What: Morning rally
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 6:30 a.m. – 8 a.m.
Where: Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Hospital main entrance
400 N. Pepper Avenue, Colton, CA 92324
Contact: Yvette Lopez, (909) 224-6944
What: Silent protest
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 a.m. – 8 a.m.
Where: Southern California Hospital at Culver City
Outside main entrance of the facility
3828 Delmas Terrace, Culver City, CA 90231-2459
Contact: Erik Macatuno, (562) 577-4668
What: Informational picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Where: Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital
Sidewalk leading to the main entrance
2011 N Soto St. Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9050
Contact: Henry Soria, (702) 496-0922
What: Silent protest
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
Where: Good Samaritan Hospital – Los Angeles
Sidewalk in front of the hospital at the entrance to the roundabout where the
PIH Health-Good Samaritan Hospital sign is (cross streets are Shatto and Witmer)
1225 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90017
Contact: Margarita Gamino, (747) 228-8492
What: Informational picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Where: St. Mary Medical Center Apple Valley
Sidewalk in front of hospital
18300 Highway 18, Apple Valley, CA 92307-0731
Contact: Ian Selden, (707) 535-6747
What: Joint press conference Kindred Baldwin Park & San Gabriel (CHEU)
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Where: Kindred Baldwin Park
On the sidewalk in front of the main entrance to the hospital
14148 Francisquito Avenue, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Contact: Arin Rainone, (747) 228-8625
What: Informational Picket (9am Press Conference)
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 8:30am – 9:30am
Where: Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center
Main entrance on Sunset Blvd
4867 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Contact: Jed Smith, (818) 636-2841
What: Informational Picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 9am – 11am
Where: St. Bernardine Medical Center
In the front of the main entrance Sidewalk, 21 & Waterloo
2101 N. Waterman Avenue, San Bernardino , CA 92404-4836
Contact: Christa Indriolo, (818) 640-2567
What: Informational Picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 10am – 11am
Where: Little Company of Mary Torrance
Sidewalk on Torrance Blvd
4101 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503-4607
Contact: Denice Martin, (818) 731-1586
What: Informational Picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 11am – 1pm
Where: Hemet Valley Medical Center
Front sidewalk
1117 East Devonshire Avenue, Hemet, CA 92543-3083
Contact: Raquel Ruiz, (747) 215-4243
What: Informational Picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 11am – 1pm
Where: Alhambra Hospital Medical Center
Sidewalk by front entrance
100 S. Raymond Avenue, Alhambra, CA 91801
Contact: Casey Gin, (747) 215-4447
What: Informational Picket
When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 11am – 1:30pm
Where: Kindred Hospital Westminster
200 Hospital Cir, Westminster, CA 92683 (off 21st street)
Contact: Charles Jones, (747) 214-3984
“COVID has exposed everything that has been wrong with our system,” said Zenei Cortez, RN and a president of NNU. “The old way was a huge failure. Now is the time to reenvision a world based on nurses’ values of caring, compassion, and community.”
National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, with more than 155,000 members nationwide.
