Nurses put Tri-City Medical Center on “RED ALERT” status

National Nurses United identifies Tri-City at risk of service cuts, closure due to federal cuts in Medicaid and Medicare

RNs condemn health care cuts that fund ICE/CBP terror campaign

The nation's largest union of registered nurses, National Nurses United, is sounding a "RED ALERT" warning to hundreds of communities nationwide that face a drastic reduction in quantity and quality of health care services as a result of H.R. 1, the Republican bill passed last year. Nurses condemn these cuts to health care funding and denounce the funnelling of this money into ICE and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) which have unleashed a deadly, illegal, and cruel terror campaign across the country. On Saturday, Feb. 21 nurses will make a stop on the "RED ALERT" tour at Tri-City Medical Center (Tri-City) in Oceanside, Calif.

Using five years of hospital financial data available through Medicare, NNU researchers identified more than 400 nonprofit and community hospitals, including Tri-City, that are at risk of service cuts and, eventually, potential closure if action isn't taken to restore Medicaid and Medicare funding. Medicare and Medicaid are responsible for 64 percent of Tri-City's net patient revenue. But not just Medicaid patients will suffer; without community hospitals, all patients have no way to heal from the illnesses and injuries they experience due to the conditions of their everyday lives.

"Tri-City is a community hospital, and it provides our patients with very personalized care," said Ingrid Corona, a registered nurse in the telemetry unit and chief nurse representative. "Many of us who work here, live in the community and get our care here. Tri-City is like a big family. It would be a great loss if Tri-City experienced service cuts, or in the worst case scenario - it closed. It's important to bring awareness into the community about the cuts this administration is making. We have to push back. We need our neighbors and patients to join us to ensure that we have the services we need in our community."

Tri-City is now poised to partner with Sharp HealthCare, depending on the outcome of an anticipated June ballot measure that health care district voters will decide. However, this partnership does not allay nurses' concerns. While an infusion of money is significant, it does not address the underlying structural need for a reliable, continued revenue stream. Tri-City relies heavily on Medicaid and Medicare, and looming Republican-led cuts to those programs will increase uncompensated care for uninsured and underinsured patients. That meansTri-City will continue to be a financially vulnerable hospital, even with Sharp's investment.

More information on the financial vulnerability of Tri-City and potential impacts to patient care are available here.

As nurses condemn these pending cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that undermine our health and well-being, we're outraged this money is now being used to pay for armed and masked marauding ICE and CBP agents. Nurses mourn the loss of at least nine people who have died either in ICE detention or at the hands of immigration agents this year alone. NNU is calling for the abolition of ICE.

Things do not have to be this way, nurses offering a new path forward.

In Oceanside, nurses will join with community leaders to put forward a vision for a healthy society and encourage community members to join this grass roots movement. The nurses will also offer a free clinic with basic wellness checks to all who need it.

What: Nurses 'RED ALERT' bus tour stop
When: All Day Event- Free Wellness Clinic from 11am-4pm; Surf Me a Taco truck opens at 11am; Speaker program starts at 12:10; musical programs; 11am The Resizters and 1:30 pm Los Paisanos.
Where: Tri-City Medical Center, 4002 Vista Way, Oceanside, Calif.
Speakers and guests include: CNA President Sandy Reding, RN; NNU Executive Director Puneet Maharaj; Brigette Browning, San Diego Labor Council; Dr. Priya Bhat-Patel, Carlsbad mayor pro tem/city council; Katie Melendez, Vista City Council; Tazheen Nizam, Executive Director of CAIR San Diego; Rev. Heather Megill​, Minister of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito

Other participating groups include:

• San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council
• California School Employees Association
• Democratic Socialists of San Diego
• California State University San Marcos Feminists Unite
• SD Black Worker Center
• North County LGBT Center
• Pilipino Workers Center
• UDW/AFSCME Local 3930

"RED ALERT" tour offers the union nurse vision for how to make America healthy:

H.R. 1, which Republicans and President Trump pushed, cut more than $1 trillion in federal funding to health care to give billionaires tax breaks and militarize immigration enforcement. In response to this unprecedented attack on public health, registered nurses will be taking their alternative vision for a healthy society directly to the patients and working-class communities they serve.

"The billionaire class and their Republican puppets are gutting public health protections to make themselves richer and militarize our neighborhoods, with zero regard for working people and families struggling to survive," said NNU President Mary Turner, RN. "Nurses refuse their deadly agenda. We're taking the wheel and bringing our vision for a healthy society directly to patients and communities who will bear the brunt of Republican policies. We invite everyone who has felt abandoned by the political system to join us and build real working-class solidarity."

The "RED ALERT" tour aims to build the power and community support needed to save more than 400 vulnerable nonprofit hospitals from slashed services or closure. Not just Medicaid patients will suffer; without community hospitals, all patients have no way to heal from the illnesses and injuries they experience due to the conditions of their everyday lives.

Cuts to services and staffing are also detrimental. Patients experience longer ER wait times, increased travel time for care, worse health outcomes (including death), and a loss of jobs at the hospital, which is often the biggest community employer.

According to NNU's calculations taken from Medicare cost reports, it would take $8 billion in tax revenue to keep all 401 hospitals vulnerable to closure open for another year. To put this into perspective, Kaiser Permanente made $12 billion last year, according to the hospital chain's audited financial reports. Sen. Bernie Sanders has released comprehensive tax proposals to change the U.S. tax system and raise trillions in revenue, which NNU strongly endorses to keep hospitals and health services accessible, eventually guarantee health care for all through Medicare for All, and build the pillars for a society that takes care of everyone's needs.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.