KAISER PERMANENTE: NURSES BEGIN TWO-DAY WALKOUT

      "Hospitals throughout Northern California weathered the
 start of a two-day nurses' strike at Kaiser Permanente yesterday,
 despite predictions of a hospital-bed shortage due to
 California's worst flu season in 17 years,"  the San Francisco
 Chronicle reports (DeBare/Hytha, 1/29).  "Fears that [the] strike
 by more than 7,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses would trigger a
 catastrophe at emergency rooms around Northern California failed
 to become reality," reports the San Jose Mercury News.  However,
 "[n]on-Kaiser hospitals, already overloaded with their own
 patients, did have to scramble to care for people turned away by
 Kaiser."  Columbia San Jose Medical Center spokesperson Carla
 Zaccheo said, "We've been busy, but we've been able to handle
 everything" (Gathright/Moreno, 1/29).  The AP/Modesto Bee reports
 that the strike left "hospitals from Sacramento to Fresno
 scrambling to find beds for patients amid a nasty flu season." 
 According to hospital officials, the strike "comes at a bad time"
 because of the flu outbreak.  Nathan Nayman, regional vice
 president for the Hospital Council of Northern and Central
 California, said, "The number of people filling beds hasn't been
 this high since 1981."  However, Kaiser officials throughout the
 state said the nurses' strike was causing "moderate to minimal
 disruptions" to their facilities (Miller, 1/29).  The Chronicle
 reports that "Kaiser members said they were getting the care they
 needed."  Ken August, a spokesperson for the Department of Health
 Services, said, "It looks like the hospitals are very busy, but
 they are managing" (1/29).
      STATE OF AFFAIRS
      The AP/Contra Costa Times reports the strike "had a ripple
 effect as other hospitals dealt with both the flu outbreak and
 the overflow from Kaiser."  To compensate, both Kaiser and non-
 Kaiser hospitals in the area "discharged patients early, reopened
 closed units, expanded wards into adjacent areas and hired extra
 staff."  The AP/Contra Costa Times reports that Contra Costa,
 Alameda and Solano counties "declared local emergencies this
 week" (Spears/Bender/McCoy/Hong/Hicks/McMillan, 1/29).  The 
 AP/Los Angeles Times reports that the 220 hospitals belonging to
 the hospital council are about 90% filled.  Nayman said that many
 Northern Californian hospitals are in "internal disaster mode,"
 meaning "staffers are being brought in on mandatory overtime,
 elective surgeries are being canceled and doctors are making
 rounds twice a day in an attempt to find patients ready for
 release" (1/29).  
      BACK TO THE TABLE  
      The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports last-minute "attempts
 to ward off the strike failed early Wednesday morning, but the
 meetings might lay the foundation for settlement later."  Gary
 Hattel, the federal mediator assigned to the dispute, said, "Both
 sides are still looking for creative ways to bridge the gaps that
 still exist" (Lauer, 1/29).