Healthcare workers to picket private equity-owned San Diego Hospital, where chronic undertaffing impacts patient care
The picket will run from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 23, at Kindred Hospital San Diego, where more than 100 workers have been in contract negotiations for seven months
SAN DIEGO — More than 100 healthcare workers will picket outside Kindred Hospital San Diego on Wednesday, September 23, to call attention to severe understaffing amid ongoing contract negotiations at the 70-bed facility.
“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.”
WHO/WHAT: An information picket by Kindred Hospital San Diego workers represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The workers include respiratory therapists, housekeepers and nursing assistants.
WHEN/WHERE: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 23, outside Kindred Hospital San Diego, 1940 El Cajon Blvd.
Kindred Hospital San Diego is a critical component of the local healthcare system, treating patients for longer stays, usually after they’re discharged from acute care hospitals. Conditions inside the hospital 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.
- 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 shows that patients at Kindred Hospital San Diego were eight times more likely to suffer a major fall than at the average hospital.
Under private-equity ownership, Kindred has kept staffing levels to a bare minimum. Compared to its top local competitor, Select Specialty Hospital San Diego, Kindred staffs considerably fewer workers per patient.
Workers are seeking raises to help the hospital better retain and recruit caregivers, but after seven months of contract negotiations, Kindred is still proposing wage increases that would not keep pace with inflation, making it harder to safely staff the 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 Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm that reported $5.9 billion in profits in 2025 and controls 220 hospitals across 36 states.
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including about than 700 workers at Kindred hospitals.
