RNs at Salinas Valley Health denounce executive pay as management refuses to address staffing concerns that put patient safety at risk

Informational picket Thursday, October 3

Registered nurses at Salinas Valley Health in Salinas, California, will hold an informational picket on Thursday, October 3, to denounce the administration's failure to address patient safety concerns while the CEO received a large increase in compensation in recent years, announced California Nurses Association (CNA).

Over an eight-year period from 2015 through 2023, the CEO of Salinas Valley Health received a 142 percent increase in compensation to $1,642,941, according to public records from the State of California. This increase in compensation came as management instituted changes in the emergency room that led to a high turnover rate and the loss of many experienced nurses, putting patient care at risk.

"Instead of actually addressing nurses' serious concerns about retention and recruitment, patient care, and staffing, C-suite executives chose to give the CEO exorbitant raises and push proposals that will undermine safe patient care and surely lead to the loss of experienced nurses who are vital to providing the highest quality of patient care," said Tracy Chavez, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Salinas Valley Health. "Upper management needs to quit pushing cuts and takeaways on patients and reinvest in nurses and safe patient care."

Who: Registered nurses at Salinas Valley Health
What: Informational picket for patient safety and a strong contract
When: Thursday, October 3, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Salinas Valley Health, 450 East Romie Lane, Salinas at the corner of Wilgart Way

Emergency room nurses contend that management's decisions, including eliminating a charge nurse position in the ER and forcing the vital resource nurse to take on a patient assignment, has left other nurses without the critical resources and support they need to provide the highest quality of care. Nurses say these changes in the emergency room have led to a mass exodus of experienced nurses and resulted in a dependence on travel nurses.

Nurses are also demanding that management ensure that there are dedicated meal- and rest-break staff nurses to maintain safe staffing at all times in the hospital. They say too often break-relief nurses are spread too thinly and nurses are not able to take their breaks, fearing the heavy patient loads will put their patients' safety in jeopardy.

"Currently, management is asking charge nurses, the nurses who are overseeing the unit, to take on relief duties, but this is simply not safe for our patients," said Anna Gonzalez, registered nurse in the telemetry unit at Salinas Valley Health. "Charge nurses have their own set of duties, including responding to emergencies, mentoring newer nurses, and overseeing the flow of patients and nurses in the unit. When they are taken away from these duties, patient care suffers. There are times when there is simply no one to break a nurse and they may feel obligated to miss a break, because they don't want to see another nurse take on a double load and their patients suffer from lack of care during that time."

The majority of nurses at Salinas Valley Health work 12-hour shifts and it is imperative that they get breaks to rest and recuperate to provide the highest quality of care for their patients. Numerous studies show that tired nurses are more likely to make mistakes or miss important cues about their patients' status than nurses who are rested.

Nurses are also appalled that management is proposing to cut health care benefits for nurses. These benefits are essential to attract and retain experienced nurses.

"We know that experienced nurses are critical to providing mentorship and leadership in our hospital that directly correlates to a higher quality of care," said Britnee Sandoval, registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit at Salinas Valley Health. "We need to be doing all we can to keep nurses in our hospital who can help mentor the next generation of nurses and whose years of experience are so important to ensure optimal nursing care at the bedside."

CNA represents more than 700 registered nurses at Salinas Valley Health.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.