CNA nurses demand UCI Health-Fountain Valley reopen pediatric units that serve hundreds of children annually

Nurses and community members are outraged over abrupt closure of pediatric units without community input or advance warning

Registered nurses at UCI Health-Fountain Valley in Fountain Valley, Calif., are demanding that management immediately reopen the pediatric department and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), which were closed without warning on Monday, March 23, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU). CNA is also demanding that UCI Health reinstate the 35 nurses who received layoff notices. The nurses, who are members of CNA/NNU, will hold a rally on Wednesday, April 1, to protest the closure of these critical pediatric units.

"It is an outrage that UCI Health closed these units with no warning to the public or to the workers," said Karen Escobar, a registered nurse in the pediatric unit. "The day after the unit was closed a child needing surgery showed up in the emergency department. The closure of our pediatric unit clearly put a child at risk. How many other children will have delays in care? We understand that wait times at Children's Hospital of Orange County can be up to six hours. We need these units to care for the children in the Fountain Valley area."

Who: Registered nurses at UCI Health-Fountain Valley
What: Rally demanding the reopening of pediatric units and reinstatement of nurses

When: Wednesday, April 1, at 12 p.m.

Where: UCI Fountain Valley, 17100 Euclid St., Fountain Valley, Calif.

Nurses are deeply concerned that the closure of the pediatric units will create delays for patients who urgently need care. They note that the closest hospital to UCI Health-Fountain Valley is Children's Hospital of Orange County, which is eight miles away, but the drive can take up to 45 minutes depending on traffic. In 2025, there were 274 admissions to the PICU at UCI Health-Fountain Valley, and 465 admissions to the pediatric unit. In 2024, those numbers were 283 for PICU, and 541 for the pediatric unit.

The closure comes just two years after UCI Health purchased the hospital. Nurses say the pediatric unit closures raise serious questions about UCI Health's priorities and long-term commitment to safe, high-quality care.

Nurses charge that UCI Health deliberately orchestrated a scheme designed to lower the pediatric units' census by redirecting patients to Children's Hospital of Orange County instead of sending them to UCI Health-Fountain Valley.

"What we have seen is that, when pediatric patients show up at UCI Health-Orange emergency department, administrators have directed those patients to Children's Hospital of Orange County, instead of UCI Health-Fountain Valley, their own newly purchased hospital with pediatric units," said Escobar. "UCI Health must reopen the pediatric and pediatric intensive care units and reinstate the laid off nurses."

CNA represents 730 nurses at UCI Health-Fountain Valley and 4,500 nurses across UCI Health.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.