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The Santa Rosa Press Democrat interviewed NUHW members about Providence preparing to close the only urgent care center in Santa Rosa that is available to all residents.
The ongoing strike by nearly 2,400 NUHW members who provide mental health care for Kaiser in Southern California continues to receive plenty of press coverage. KPBS in San Diego did a story about hospice care violations during the strike, the LAist/KPCC wrote about Kaiser’s inadequate plan for providing services during the strike, KUSI in San Diego reported on state regulators opening an Enforcement Investigation against Kaiser and Fox-11 covered our Nov. 21 rally outside Kaiser’s Pasadena headquarters.
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that companies may not compel workers to attend meetings on the downsides of unionization, a tactic that unions say stifles worker organizing. The decision, indicates the New York Times, is the latest in a slew of labor board rulings under the Biden administration aimed at supporting workers’ right to unionize, stems from a complaint over Amazon’s conduct before a successful union election in 2022 at a Staten Island warehouse, the first Amazon warehouse in the nation to unionize. The company held hundreds of meetings there and at another location to discourage workers from supporting a union.
KION 54 reported that San Benito County voters approved the sale of Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital to a private company after Measure X–the ballot measure–received more than 50 percent of the votes. The vote means the San Benito Health Care District can move forward with the sale or lease-to-own agreement with Insight Health System earlier this year. Insight released a statement saying that they plan to retain staff and invest in crucial equipment and facility upgrades.
A new study on a popular drug prescribed for asthma indicates it is binding itself to receptors in the brain and is linked to severe mental health issues and suicide, reported USA Today. The Food and Drug Administration presented the preliminary results of a study on the asthma drug Singulair, which is sold generically as montelukast, to a “limited audience” at the American College of Toxicology meeting in Austin, Texas. Research does not show whether the binding leads to harmful side effects from the drug, or who is at risk.
The San Jose City Council has approved the $1.2 billion expansion of Good Samaritan Hospital, owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, San Jose Spotlight reported. The vote followed an October recommendation by the San Jose Planning Commission to reject the expansion, primarily due to concerns about HCA Healthcare. The 1 million-square-foot project will add two hospital wings and a medical office building. As part of the agreement, HCA will direct $3 million in commercial linkage fees toward homelessness and housing in San Jose. Community members and officials have expressed concerns about the expansion, citing HCA’s closure of an 18-bed inpatient psychiatric facility and reduced services at Regional Medical Center in San Jose.
