We’re holding strong on the picket lines following the holiday, with good attendance and ongoing support from elected officials, community allies, and patients, who have stepped up to share their stories. We’ve heard from more than 500 Kaiser behavioral health patients since late October about their experiences with delayed or denied mental health care.
Most recently, a journalist from Sacramento shared his family’s struggle accessing with care:
“I do not blame the mental health workers who Kaiser employs for partial treatment of my boy. The National Union of Healthcare Workers blames Kaiser management for cutting mental health workers’ time treating patients to allocate money elsewhere. In sum, mental health workers’ working conditions drive their patients’ therapy, according to the NUHW. I agree.”
Our press conference on Monday of last week with Kaiser patients continues to generate media coverage. From the San Diego Union Tribune:
“I haven’t had any thoughts of giving up, and I won’t have them, because this is greater than us,” said Olivia Aguirre, a licensed marriage and family therapist and NUHW bargaining unit member who said she has worked for Kaiser for nine years. “This is greater than Kaiser….This is, in my opinion, a mental health revolution. We are tired of the way mental health is seen and ignored.”
Yesmine Florines, who said she is herself a mental health counselor in therapy due to struggles after giving birth, said she struggled for months to get a therapist before the strike occurred. She said she has been assigned a couple’s counselor outside the Kaiser network during the strike, but has been unable to find anyone who can provide eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, also called EMDR.
“There is no continuum of care … it’s been very, very frustrating, and that’s just kind of where I’m at now, and it’s just been very hard.”
Picket line notes
- Last Thursday the San Diego Labor Council hosted a grocery donation for us with Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez stopping by to lend her support.
- In West LA our allies from UFCW 770 showed up strong to keep the energy high.
- Security guards in Panorama City even showed their support this week stopping by the lines to fist bump some of us.
- Friends and family day was a success with many people coming out to show their support.
- Last week, LAMC members enjoyed a great performance of live music and patients demonstrated their support by buying lunch for our picket line. This week started off strong with loud chanting and marching.
Hardship funds
Hardship fund applications are due by Friday at 11:59 p.m. for disbursement on the following Friday. You can find the official rules for disbursement here and the application form here.Be sure to share the donation links with your extended networks to ensure we have adequate funds for disbursement. Currently, weekly disbursements are being capped at $250. Please be patient as the committee works out our workflow and challenges with distributing such large amounts of money.
Picket line photos
See the gallery of photos below, and see more on NUHW’s social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
