Replacements Called In As Bay Area Nurses Go On One-Day Strike
BURLINGAME (CBS SF) – Registered nurses have planned a one-day strike on Thursday at 34 hospitals in Northern and Central California, with replacement nurses set to pick up the slack.
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame is one where nurses will be walking the picket line, protesting proposed contract givebacks.
Mills-Peninsula Vice President for Human Resources Debbie Goodin said 180 temporary nurses have been trained to step in.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
"In our ICU for example, we have only ICU-trained nurses. In medical surgical, we have medical surgical nurses," Goodin said. "Same with operating rooms and same with all the specialty areas."
Goodin said all patient care, including surgeries, will continue on Thursday.
Sharon Tobin, a registered nurse at Mills and a member of the California Nurses Association, said that while there might be care, it won't have that special community touch.
"We are the heart of that hospital. And we have our patient's best interests at heart," said Tobin. "And we bring that element to every bedside."
Mills-Peninsula will use temporary nurses for five days with striking RN's locked out until next Tuesday.
Nurses are also striking hospitals in the Sutter Health and Kaiser networks and at Children's Hospital in Oakland.
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