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Nurses, Caregivers Rally Before PPH Board Meeting

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 12:07 CDT

By Andrea Moss, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

May 9--POWAY ---- Nurses and other patient caregivers held a rally Monday in front of Pomerado Hospital to draw attention to their calls for Palomar Pomerado Health to meet their demands as the two sides negotiate new contracts.

The event preceded a meeting in which Gary Powers was sworn as a new member of the public hospital district's board of directors.

The district's current contracts expire May 31 with an estimated 2,200 Palomar Pomerado employees represented by the California Nurses Association and the Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union.

Negotiations for new deals have been under way for several months, and tentative agreement has been reached on some issues. However, nurses and caregivers say the public hospital district is resisting the unions' requests for lower nurse-to-patient ratios, better salaries and pensions, and a team of people who would be available to help lift patients around the clock.

Holding red-and-white signs emblazoned with phrases like, "Patients are our special interest" and "Pension (equals) retention," nurses and caregivers who work at the district's facilities marched in front of the hospital for about an hour.

Many rally participants then headed upstairs and packed into the hospital's third-floor conference room in time for the meeting.

Once the session began, three union members voiced frustration with the way the negotiations have been going and anger with what they said were management attempts to undermine the unions and intimidate employees.

The speakers gave few specifics, but went on to urge the board to remember that nurses and caregivers are the go-betweens who provide continuity for patients making repeat visits to the district's facilities.

"We need these things to help our patients and to prevent a mass exit," one speaker said, singling out the requests for a so-called "lift team" to be available 24 hours a day and for nurse-to-patient ratios to be included in the contracts.

Board Chairman Marcelo Rivera noted that the seven-member panel rarely sees large numbers of employees at its meeting except during contract negotiation periods.

He said the board does not negotiate those deals in public.

"Negotiation is an ongoing process," said Rivera. "We are now in that process. And hopefully, that's going to work out in the best interest of everyone."

The board appointed Powers to a vacant seat last month. He replaced former Director Nancy Scofield, who resigned because she and her husband are moving to Idaho.

Powers is also president and chief executive officer of the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce. He was sworn in to his seat on the hospital district board by chamber board member Jim Roth.

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Copyright (c) 2006, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

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Source: North County Times

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