NUHW members picketed two Kindred hospitals in September to call attention to unsafe staffing levels and other patient care concerns amid ongoing contract negotiations at Kindred Hospital Bay Area San Leandro and Kindred Hospital San Diego
Both long-term acute care hospitals are critical components of their local healthcare system, treating patients for longer stays, usually after they’re discharged from acute care hospitals. However, conditions inside both facilities have grown steadily worse since 2021, when Kindred was purchased by a division of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest private equity firms with more than $1 trillion in assets.
At Kindred Hospital Bay Area, workers say equipment often fails and supply shortages are a recurring problem.
“We’ve had to wrap patients in sheets because the hospital is out of gowns,” Edna Renslow, a long-tenured nursing assistant at the hospital, said before the picket. “It was never this bad before private equity took over. We come to work every day determined to give our patients the care they deserve, but we need safe staffing and basic supplies to do that. This hospital should be a place that’s committed to helping people get better, not helping a private equity firm get even richer.”
The Bay Area picket was covered by NBC Bay Area, KCBS Radio, and Hoodline.
Understaffing is a chronic issue at Kindred Hospital San Diego, made worse by inadequate wages that workers are seeking to remedy in contract negotiations that have been going on for several months.
“We take pride in giving the best possible care to our patients, but we can’t do that when we’re always understaffed,” Respiratory Therapist Neil Negrampa said. “We’ll never have safe staffing levels without fair wages, but Kindred is focused on making more money, not delivering better care.”
The picket was covered by Fox-5 San Diego and attended by several elected officials, including Assemblymember Christopher Ward, San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, and San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.
At Kindred Bay Area, management is refusing to agree to language aimed at addressing equipment and supply shortages, while offering minuscule wage increases that would worsen the hospital’s worker turnover and understaffing problems.
Between June 2023 and 2026, more than half the workers at Kindred Bay Area left the facility, often for higher-paying jobs elsewhere. During that period, 68 percent of registered nurses, 67 percent of respiratory therapists, and 52 percent of nursing assistants left the hospital.
The lack of adequate staffing has taken a toll on patient care. Federal data from 2025 shows that hospital-acquired bedsores occurred at twice the national rate, and major patient falls occurred at five times the national rate. Since 2023, 86 complaints against Kindred Bay Area have been filed with the California Department of Public Health, far above the statewide average of 63.
“There’s no excuse for the situation at our hospital,” said Sammie Alazar, a registered nurse at Kindred Hospital Bay Area. “We are committed to doing right by our patients, and that’s why we’re determined to win a contract that ensures we have the staff, supplies, and resources that we know Kindred can afford.”
The situation isn’t any better in San Diego, where workers are seeking raises to help the hospital better retain and recruit caregivers.
- From February 2023 to July 2026, 129 complaints and reported incidents were filed with the California Department of Public Health in connection with Kindred Hospital San Diego — nearly double the statewide average of 65 for similar facilities.
- Federal data in 2025 show that patients at Kindred Hospital San Diego were eight times more likely to suffer a major fall than at the average hospital.
“We shouldn’t have to apologize to patients who have to wait too long for care because our hospital is understaffed,” said Daniel Gallardo, an environmental services technician at the hospital. “Kindred is owned by one of the world’s wealthiest private equity firms; it has the resources to help us provide the best patient care, and we’re determined to make them do just that.”
Kindred is part of ScionHealth, which is owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Apollo reported $4.5 billion in profits last year and controls 220 hospitals across 36 states.
