OXNARD : Hospital Begins Week of Layoffs

St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard has started laying off employees and plans to continue to do so throughout the week, although officials Tuesday refused to say how many jobs will be lost.

“There’s going to be layoffs occurring every day this week,” said hospital spokeswoman Rita Schumacher. The hospital “is just not prepared to release any numbers yet.”

Faced with a projected $5-million shortfall this fiscal year, a team of administrators is still deciding how many salaried positions to eliminate, Schumacher said. The hospital employs 1,400 people.

“They looked at every single department, but that doesn’t mean that there are layoffs in every single department,” she said.

Gloria Herrera, a 37-year-old medical technician from Oxnard, was notified Monday that she was being let go.

“It didn’t feel good,” said Herrera, who had worked at the hospital for more than two years.

“The hardest part is the people whose sole livelihood is that job,” Herrera said, referring to a co-worker who is five months pregnant. “Who is going to hire a pregnant (nurse)?”

Herrera said she knows of about 30 people who have been laid off since Monday.

Neither Schumacher nor Charles Padilla, vice president of human resources, would confirm that estimate.

Padilla said a daylong job seminar, where employees can practice interviewing skills and receive help in resume writing, will be offered by the hospital today. Additional sessions will be held later for those who will be laid off later in the week.

The layoffs are “a reflection of health care in general,” Padilla said. “We and other hospitals are going to have to operate leaner.”