Cancel and Lie? It’s the Same Story
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. In 2022, when Northern California Kaiser mental health workers went on strike for 10 weeks, Kaiser publicly claimed they were finding alternative providers. They did this because even during a strike, Kaiser is required by California […]
What’s the Deal With the Double Standard?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. When hospital staff come to work, we expect every department to do their part to take care of patients and keep the hospital running. We know we can trust the nurses to provide care, the food […]
AHS Workers Support Divestment
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Over 700 AHS workers have signed a petition calling for an ethical investment policy, representing nearly 15% of AHS employees. These workers are standing up to demand that their retirement funds no longer support weapons manufacturers […]
“Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Covered, Just Like My Son’s Medicine”
The shooting of United Healthcare’s CEO has drawn attention to the way insurance companies commit social murder against us.
Management’s Threats Make us Sick
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Cold and flu season is upon us! Many of us are waking up with sniffles and sore throats, wondering if we should head into work or call in sick. Management is quick to threaten us about […]
Spending Thanksgiving on Strike
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. The Southern California Kaiser mental health workers’ strike continues, now over 40 days in length. Meanwhile, Kaiser has still failed to present a proposal that includes better pay and improved staffing levels. The long struggle on […]
AHS Workers Gifted a Hiring Freeze for the Holidays
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. AHS sent out an email last week that most new hiring will be deferred until after the New Year. They gave a confusing explanation regarding AHS’s line of credit via Alameda County called the Net Negative […]
“Pro-life” policy kills
The infant death rate has increased by 7% across the U.S. since the Supreme Court passed the Dobbs decision, which allowed states to restrict abortion access and reproductive care. The same pediatric study found the mortality rate increased by 10% for infants born with health complications. This is just one study in a growing field […]
KP People Pulse & Elections: How Do Things Change?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. KP People Pulse took place last month and the results are being gathered. In certain ways, People Pulse is like the election we just went through – it is framed as an opportunity to give feedback […]
E-Learning Modules Are Paid Hours!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. For most healthcare workers, every time we log into our e-learning portal there is a new mandatory lesson to complete. From workplace violence prevention to hazardous material safety, the list of e-learnings can seem endless. Expecting […]
Health Care in the U.S. — A Nurse’s View
I’m a nurse, I work in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been a nurse for about 15 years now and when I first got into the medical field, I thought I’d be taking care of people maybe at the end of a long natural life span when they’re very old, or maybe some very […]
Healthcare Plans: Too Confusing, Too Costly
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Open enrollment for health insurance at Highland ended on Monday. We had just two weeks to decide which healthcare plan is right for us and our families. This is not enough time to decipher the various […]
Highland Management Cheats Nurses
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Nurses throughout Highland have found that not only is management often not providing them meal and rest breaks, they are not paying the appropriate compensation for those missed breaks! If there is not a break nurse […]
Update: Kaiser Mental Health Workers Strike
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. As the second week of the strike unfolds, over 2,400 Kaiser mental health workers in Southern California continue their fight for better wages and working conditions. The strike, led by the National Union of Healthcare Workers […]
Applying for Disability: They Want Us to Give Up!
The process of applying for disability benefits is intentionally difficult, because the priority is to keep us working, not healthy.
IVF Fluid Shortage: Profit Over Patients
Because of the storms on the East Coast, we’ve been facing a huge shortage of IV fluids. These are only the most basic essentials for any hospital – IV fluids help resuscitate patients and provide hydration for patients who can’t consume enough water. They’re also essential for many procedures. We live on the other side […]
Sign the Petition: AHS Must Divest!
On October 8th, dozens of healthcare workers and community members gathered for a rally outside Highland Hospital to recognize the one year anniversary of the assault on Gaza, and the ongoing genocide in the region. Speakers included Highland physicians, nurse midwives, therapists, and nurses. Hospital workers circulated a petition demanding that Alameda Health System develop […]
Mental Health is a Struggle at Kaiser
Receiving mental health services at Kaiser can be a significant struggle. Due to chronic short staffing, wait times for patient appointments can stretch to three months! Ironically, even Kaiser employees face these long waits. Kaiser has increasingly encouraged group therapy while patients await their one-on-one appointments, or they outsource patients to other providers when they […]
KP People Pulse: Pretending to Care
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Every year, when People Pulse comes around, we know what’s coming—constant reminders to fill out our forms so management can gather feedback. Surprisingly or not, the atmosphere at work becomes friendlier, with managers and administration putting […]
Staff Up to Prevent Pressure Injuries
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. At Highland recently, management mandated that all nursing staff attend a class on preventing HAPI’s, also known as “Healthcare Associated Pressure Injuries” or bedsores. Hospitals are not reimbursed for pressure injuries that develop during hospitalization, so […]
Steward Health Care: Capitalism Running Wild
Steward Health Care extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from its hospitals, leaving patients and employees feeling the consequences.
Everybody Deserves Rest!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Working at a hospital, where the short-staffing crisis is an everyday reality, takes a toll on your body. It’s hard not to think about the years remaining until retirement becomes a reality. However, with inflation driving […]
Capitalism Pushes Workers and Patients to the Brink
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. It takes personal strength and dedication to work in a hospital, caring for people who are suffering through what are often the worst days of their lives. In a normal shift, a nurse might comfort a […]
AHS’s Neglect Costs Patients Their Appetites
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Inpatient meals have been getting served on disposable takeout containers at Highland for the last few weeks. No warmed plates means food is cold, soggy, and not a reflection of the food that patients usually like. […]
Kaiser’s Allergy to Staffing
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Is Kaiser allergic to being fully staffed? Because often when an employee leaves, the position never gets reposted. So departments run on skeleton crews, with overworked and burned out staff who are one crisis away from […]
State Supreme Court Rules Against Alameda Health System Workers
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. In a unanimous ruling on August 15th, the California Supreme Court found that public healthcare workers are not protected by the same labor laws as employees of private healthcare systems. The case (Stone vs Alameda Health […]
New Delhi Women and Doctors Demand No More Violence
Women and doctors held demonstrations in New Delhi, after the rape and murder of a junior doctor.
Kaiser: Morning Confusion
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Last Wednesday Kaiser Oakland implemented a new policy. Now, before 8am, workers have to enter the hospital for a shift by badging in to the main entrance on MacArthur, as opposed to the usual normal door […]
Criminalizing Mask Wearing Sets Dangerous Precedent as COVID Rises
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Last week legislators in Nassau County, New York approved a bill banning masks in public spaces, saying “concealing your identity” by wearing a mask is a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to a year of jail […]
Missing Supplies Risk Patients’ Lives
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. When lives are at stake, every second counts as hospital staff reach for supplies they need to provide patient care. Nurses and other staff depend on supply rooms being well-stocked so they can focus on their […]
Billionaires Won’t Save Us From Health Inequality
Donations from billionaires are not a substitute for having a system that works for all of us.
CrowdStrike Chaos
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. On July 19, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike released buggy software that caused many computers internationally that run on the Microsoft Windows operating system to crash. The outage impacted millions of computers across the world and had varying […]
“On Call” Doesn’t Mean at Management’s Beck and Call
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Kaiser expects a lot from its on call workers – but the obligation seems to only go one way. The most recent SEIU-UHW contract, for example, allows managers to require on calls give up to 10 […]
What Do Managers Even Do?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Every day in the hospital, we see hundreds of workers caring for patients, cooking their meals, cleaning their rooms, and keeping us all safe. We work together, every day and night of the year, using our […]
TA Reached at AHS
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. The SEIU 1021 bargaining team has reached a tentative agreement (TA) with management, and voting takes place this week to ratify the contract. Looking through the 161 page agreement can be a bit confusing – all […]
COVID Cases on the Rise…
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. COVID cases are on the rise again in the Bay Area and many of us probably know of someone who has gotten it again in the past few weeks. While luckily this hasn’t translated to a […]
Short Staffing Tragedy
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. A few days ago at Kaiser Vallejo, a man lost his life while waiting in the emergency room. He arrived in critical condition and needed urgent care. However, due to short staffing, he waited for 8 […]
Highland ICU Nurses Win Victory in Firing Bad Manager
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Last year, Highland Hospital hired a temporary manager to fill the vacant leadership role in the ICU. Nurses on the unit immediately found the new manager to be an incompetent bully, who flaunted his many years […]
Healthcare Workers Say: No Pride in Genocide!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Over the Pride weekend, healthcare workers marched together Friday at Trans March to show solidarity with Palestinians, using the demonstration as an opportunity to bring attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Gaza only has one […]
It’s Always the Workers Who Sacrifice
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Governor Newsom finally approved a new budget for California’s 2024-25 fiscal year last week. The original budget plan featured state funding for minimum wage increases for healthcare workers starting on July 1st. The wage increases are […]
No Cuts! Staff Up Kaiser Now!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Recently, Kaiser sent an email to the president of OPEIU local 29 (office, technical, professional and health care employees) regarding upcoming measures aimed at “optimizing reception staffing by standardizing and better utilizing resources.” The precise implications […]
Kaiser Residents & Fellows Unionize – Cheers to the Next Steps!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. There’s something to celebrate at Kaiser Permanente Northern California: residents and fellow physicians have unionized, and joined Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU). Kaiser is one of the largest healthcare providers in the state, and the […]
Ready to Strike But… We Need More Transparency!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. At Highland, it’s no secret that our wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, we’re critically understaffed, and management is making our jobs harder every day. We depend on our union representatives to bring our concerns to […]
Fighting AI
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. About two weeks ago, nurses rallied in front of the Kaiser SF facility to protest the rapid introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Kaiser, and the lack of transparency in how these technologies are being implemented […]
T – 3 Weeks Till Our Contract Expires
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. In 3 weeks, on May 31, our SEIU 1021 contracts expire at Alameda Health System. Here at Highland, most workers, despite holding different job titles and responsibilities, are united under the same union. So when we […]
Kaiser’s Mainframe Madness
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Why are we, at one of the largest healthcare companies (and the largest private employer in the state), still using software that looks like it’s from the 1990s?? Mainframe, the software we use for our time […]
We Need More Permanent Staff
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Travel nurses play a vital role in our hospitals – they help make sure patients are cared for when facilities have higher than usual census, such as during a sudden outbreak, natural disaster, or major accident. […]
Clockin’ In Blues
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. At Highland Hospital, our nurses’ union contract stipulates that we have a 7-minute grace period to clock in before the start of each shift. This ensures that we are settled and ready to take report from […]
If Hospital Workers Ran Highland…
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Alameda Health System CEO James Jackson recently sent out a memo that AHS is facing a budget gap of $100 million for the fiscal year, and needs to close the gap by June of this year. […]
Residents Unionize!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. In recent weeks, residents from Kaiser Northern California have formalized the process of starting a union. This marks a significant step forward, potentially establishing the first union for residents in a Northern California Kaiser facility and […]