Hospital News Roundup for March 23
Children's Hospital Central California on Wednesday opened its new pediatric oncology unit as part of a three-year expansion project, the Fresno Bee reports.
The new 36-bed facility -- in addition to six new beds in the pediatric intensive care unit -- boosts the number of beds at the hospital to 297, according to hospital spokesperson Micheline Golden.
The hospital plans to grow to 342 beds during the next three years (St. John, Fresno Bee, 3/20).
Unionized nurses at Fremont Rideout Health Group rallied on Monday to call for improved working conditions as they seek their first contract, the Marysville Appeal-Democrat reports.
Nurses are seeking to include language in the contract that specifies staffing ratios. Nurses hope to complete contract negotiations by June (Witter, Marysville Appeal-Democrat, 3/20).
Employees of Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles next week will vote on whether to end their affiliation with the Service Employees International Union, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports.
Good Samaritan employees who support ending the affiliation maintain that hospital staff can negotiate for themselves without the assistance of the union, which charges monthly dues (Nazario, "KPCC News," KPCC, 3/20).
Audio of the segment is available online.
Deputy Attorney General Wendi Horwitz confirmed that Paradise Valley Hospital's new owner does not have to maintain 15 beds for adolescent psychiatric patients, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Paradise Valley's Bayview Behavioral Health Services operates the beds.
County officials had asserted that Attorney General Jerry Brown's (D) approval of the sale of the facility to for-profit Prime Health Care Services required the same level of psychiatric services to be maintained (Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/17).
Unionized nurses at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have rejected a contract proposal, officials from the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement labor union announced Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Union officials are calling for the hospitals to return to negotiations, this time with the help of a federal mediator. The contract is slated to expire on March 31.
A hospital spokesperson declined to comment on the union's request (Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/21).