Registered nurses gathered outside St. Joseph’s Medical Center on Wednesday, Aug. 26 to protest layoffs of critical support staff.
More than 20 nurses rallied outside St. Joseph’s Medical Center at 1800 N. California St., in Stockton. Nurses held signs that read "less support = delayed care," "department secretaries are essential to safe care" and "cut support staff compromise patient care."
California Nurses Association and National Nurses United said in a news release that CommonSpirit began conducting mass layoffs across California earlier this year.
"Dozens of St. Joseph’s employees, including home health RNs and unit secretaries, were notified in June that they will lose their jobs by the end of August," the news release states. "Every time
nurses ask CommonSpirit management about who will do the work of the eliminated employees, they have claimed 'the nurses will do it,' which nurses know is not a solution when they are already stretched too thin."
In a June 1 St. Joseph's Medical Center Staffing Reductions Letter, Evan Gamm, system director, employee and labor relations for Dignity Health St. Joseph's Medical Center, wrote to Michael Barney of the California Nurses Association that they intend to implement the changes by Aug. 31, 2026, at the latest. The letter states that one full-time position in the home health department and two full-time positions in the skilled nursing care department would be impacted.
Stacy Erck, registered nurse in the respiratory medical intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, told The Record on Wednesday they are asking for a rally for patient safety and for Common Spirit to rescind the layoff notices and reinstate unit clerks.
"Our unit clerks are the backbone for our critical care units and work alongside nurses and doctors to provide uninterrupted care," Erck stated in the news release. "They manage high-volume phone lines, relay valuable information from doctors and our pharmacy, interact with family members on the phone, and screen visitors who visit locked units. They also run blood draws to the lab, pick up lifesaving medications from the pharmacy, and obtain blood from the blood bank at a moment’s notice. St. Joseph’s must reverse these cuts and put patient care ahead of their bottom line."
From the frontlines
Brenda Ann Savio, a 61-year-old ward clerk, has worked at the hospital since she was 20 years old.
"I was given notice that my job is no longer," she said. "It was being dissolved."
Savio worked for over 20 years in the respiratory intensive care. She recently transitioned into the surgical intensive care department.
"We're here because we care about people. It's a privilege to me to be able to make a living and help other people. To have that so undervalued, it's devastating. I don't know how else to put it," Savio said. "To see other people that I love and care and work with for 20 plus years having to go through the same thing. It's just wrong. It's morally wrong."
Savio said the people impacted are her "work family."
"We went through dark COVID together, watched co-workers die from COVID," Savio said. "Then, to be treated like this as if I don't matter, that I'm completely insignificant. I don't understand how these cuts cannot hurt patients. It's not about care. It's about money, and it's gross."
A hospital spokesperson from St. Joseph’s Medical Center told The Record in a statement on Wednesday that the center is facing "unprecedented economic pressures, soaring costs and complex government and payer dynamics."
"To support long-term sustainability and uphold our commitment to serving our communities, we are taking a number of steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs. This includes making the difficult decision to reduce some roles in our organization. We are committed to approaching this process with compassion and respect," a hospital spokesperson added. "By strengthening our operational foundation, we are strategically positioning ourselves to adeptly navigate today's healthcare landscape. This proactive approach not only enhances our immediate resilience in addressing current challenges but also lays the groundwork for sustained growth and innovation for improved health outcomes long term."
Joy Gonsolin has worked as a neonatal ICU registered nurse at St. Joseph’s Medical Center for 17 years.
"As nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit, we care for the smallest, sickest and most fragile patients — some as small as 1 pound. Our secretaries don’t just assist us, they are vital to keeping our unit running safely. In emergencies, the secretary handles calling for backup support, coordinates patient transport teams, gathers emergency supplies, gets copies of X-rays and prints medical records," Gonsolin said. "We nurses cannot possibly be expected to provide safe patient care and also handle the important tasks of our unit secretaries. CommonSpirit wants us to do their work, too, because their profits are apparently more important than patient safety."
"Please, realize our patient safety is more important than profits and our executives are being greedy," Gonsolin added.
Patrick Moran, a registered nurse in the cardiac ICU at St. Joseph's Medical Center for almost a decade, expressed concern with the layoffs.
"I can't imagine doing this job without the secretaries. I've been in charge of ICUs. I've been in charge during COVID. Without secretaries, there's no way we can do this job," Moran said. "When I'm in charge, the secretary is in charge. They're the ones running the unit. They're the ones telling me, we've got this bed ... I'm not going to be able to fill that gap."
Moran said they want the community to know that they "feel this isn't right."
"This is going to affect you, even if you're not a patient. If your family members come to the hospital there's gonna be delays in care. If you need to transfer to a different facility, it's gonna be harder for us to actually get that done because the secretaries are the ones that actually initiate all the paperwork," Moran said. "If the insurance isn't right, they might not pay for your stay. We're trying to get everything done correctly while keeping this very sick patient alive. These layoffs are going to affect the community and that's why we're here is to get that out there."
Rallies across California
Wednesday’s protest at St. Joseph’s Medical Center is not a single event. Rallies have taken place across CommonSpirit locations in the Golden State.
More than three weeks ago, on Aug. 3, CNA nurses held a rally and press conference in Los Angeles to protest the layoffs across 17 CommonSpirit facilities across California.
A signed petition by more than 5,000 CommonSpirit nurses protesting the layoffs was also delivered, according to the news release.
"St. Joseph’s is cutting the secretaries who handle visitor coordination, supplies, room turnover in the ICU, and a list of administrative tasks, and expecting nurses to absorb that work on top of caring for critically ill patients," Brandy Howard-Ross, registered nurse in the Pavilion medical-surgical ICU, said in the news release. "That’s not efficiency, it’s corporate greed dressed up as a budget decision, and it puts patients at a huge safety risk. Our patients deserve nurses who are only focused on them."
California Nurses Association represents approximately 1,300 registered nurses at St. Joseph’s Medical Center and more than 17,000 CommonSpirit registered nurses in California, Nevada, Colorado and Texas, the news release states.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers business and community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: St. Joseph’s Medical Center nurses protest layoffs of support staff
