SAN DIEGO — More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in multiple states will go on strike Wednesday to protest unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels at hundreds of Kaiser hospitals across the country and right here in San Diego County.
Many have wondered how this will impact patient care. CBS 8 talked with one man in Valley Center, whose wife recently had a new pacemaker installed, and her follow up appointment with a cardiologist Wednesday was cancelled.
Walter Adams and his wife, Sue, are used to living the good life in Valley Center, but right now they’re feeling uneasy. Last week at Scripps La Jolla, doctors replaced Sue’s 10-year-old pacemaker with a brand new one, but she had complications.
“She had some problems with it, her blood pressure skyrocketed, her thinness of her blood got way too thin, so they wouldn’t let her be released,” said Adams.
Doctors were able to stabilize her blood pressure and released her two days later. Her follow up appointment with a cardiologist to check the pacemaker and remove the bandage was scheduled for Wednesday at the Kaiser hospital in San Marcos
“We got a call yesterday morning that the appointment has been canceled because of the Kaiser strike,” said Adams. “The whole thing was really stressful for me because the complications with the surgery, the way that ended and we were worried about what the outcome was going to be Wednesday at the follow up appointment.”
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente told CBS 8:
“Our goal is to reach a fair and equitable agreement that strengthens Kaiser Permanente as a best place to work and ensures that the high-quality care our members expect from us remains affordable and easy to access.
Across the country, people working in health care during the pandemic and in its aftermath have faced the toughest challenges that anyone has had to deal with. Health care is still under great stress. More than 5 million people have left their health care jobs and burnout is at record highs.”
Ultrasound technician and president of OPEIU Local 30, Michael Ramey, says the strike will definitely impact patient care.
“The thing that’s so frustrating is patient care has already been impacted with our lack of staffing and the lack of Kaiser and Kaiser executives to recognize that it has been an issue,” said Ramey. “This was an issue before this pandemic even hit.”
For 4,500 Kaiser health care workers, including nurses and technicians, in San Diego County, the strike is expected to last three days beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 4, and concluding at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Regarding plans to provide patient care to the 636,000 Kaiser members in San Diego County during the 3-day strike, Kaiser Permanente told CBS 8:
“Should a strike occur, our hospitals and emergency departments will remain open. Our facilities will continue to be staffed by our physicians, trained and experienced managers, and staff, and in some cases we will augment with contingent workers.
Our plans ensure that the urgent needs of our members and patients are the top priority. We will contact members affected by any necessary changes in our services during this strike. This could include:
Onboarding professionals contracted to serve in critical care roles specifically for the duration of a strike.
Rescheduling non-emergency and elective services in some locations out of an abundance of caution.
Expanding Kaiser Permanente’s network of pharmacy locations to include community pharmacies that can serve our members during a strike and mitigate any closure of our outpatient pharmacies. The inpatient pharmacies serving our hospitals will remain open.”
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