by Jonathan Farrell
Nurses protest reduction of health services.
As the struggle between California Pacific Medical Center and labor union representatives continues on, a youth rally was staged on July 15 to protest the future plans CPMC has for St. Luke’s Hospital.
On that Thursday afternoon rally participants gave testimony and delivered over 1,000 post cards to CMPC officials pleading that the proposed plans not reduce health care services to the community by down-sizing the hospital.
“CPMC with its proposed plans for St. Luke’s wants to reduce services by 60 percent,” said Emily Lee, speaking for Chinese Progressive Association, as the group who sponsored the rally.
Lee told El Reportero that the plan to reduce St. Luke’s would impact the community by denying access to healthcare. A reduction in the number of beds and the shifting of services to other CPMC locations would only over burden existing hospitals in the area like San Francisco General.
Lee also said that SF General and St. Luke’s are the only hospitals in the Mission District and surrounding areas that serves a major portion of the City. Most of that population is working class and low income. SF General is already overcrowded and under funded in its efforts to serve the entire City.
Lee pointed out that CPMC as a non-profit entity it receives tax breaks in the millions, which would allow CPMC to continue St. Luke’s tradition of providing health care to low-income people.
“She is perfectly right when she says CPMC has an obligation to provide affordable or charity care for the community,” said CPMC media rep Kevin McCormack. “ It’s an obligation we take very seriously. In fact in 2009 we spent $10 million on charity care,” he said
Nato Green, labor rep for the California Nurse Association said that CPMC wants to make St. Luke’s “a permanent charity case hospital,” forcing patients to go else where for specialty needs.
McCormack said that the labor unions and nurses associations have presented a distorted view of the proposed plans. CPMC is building a brand-new hospital at St. Luke’s precisely because CPMC wants to create a strong future for the facility. There are many people in that part of San Francisco – stretching from Noe Valley and the Mission to Visitacion Valley and Bayview/Hunters Pt. – who have health insurance and would gladly use St. Luke’s as their medical home,” he said.
Nato still sees the new plans as “lipstick on a pig,” he said. Plans are not final yet.
