Healthcare workers rally to reopen pediatric units at UCI Health Fountain Valley
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A trio of unions rallied in front of UCI Health’s Fountain Valley hospital this week to demand the return of pediatric units shuttered by recent layoffs.
Cars passing by honked in support as union members clutching signs chanted, “What’s this about? Patient care!”
Jewell Justiniani-Allen, a licensed clinical social worker wearing a blue UPTE-CWA 9119 union shirt and white coat, criticized the downsizing during the noontime Wednesday demonstration.
“With Fountain Valley’s entire pediatrics department eliminated, UCI Health has shown us their priorities,” Justiniani-Allen said. “UCI Health is saying it’s OK to send our youngest patients, who could have received world-class care at Fountain Valley, down the road.”
The academic health system, which operates six hospitals in and around Orange County, on March 23 announced a “strategic restructuring” that included 150 layoffs.
UCI Health cited a number of reasons for the move, including the impacts of federal funding cuts on healthcare.
The bulk of the layoffs hit community hospitals UCI Health acquired two years ago in a dramatic expansion of its clinical enterprise.
Kaitlyn Bell and Karen Escobar worked as registered pediatric nurses at UCI Health Fountain Valley before receiving layoff notices on March 23 via email.
“We see hundreds of patients a year, not only in our pediatric department but also in our pediatric intensive care unit,” Bell said. “With the closure of this unit, all those children are going to be forced to go to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange, which can lead to six-hour wait times or longer.”
Both nurses are members of the California Nurses Assn., a union that hosted Wednesday’s rally and is fighting to reinstate the jobs of 35 nurses.
The union alleges that, before the layoffs, UCI Health “diverted” patients to CHOC instead of their Fountain Valley hospital to artificially lower patient levels.
“They were keeping patients from us on purpose,” Escobar claimed. “Whatever happens behind closed doors, UCI Health sends the kids to CHOC. That’s the deal.”
UCI Health, in a statement, reported the pediatric units at Fountain Valley were averaging fewer than three patients a day over the past 12 months.
A significant demand for adult patient care was cited as a reason for the transition of the pediatric units and layoff of 26 nursing roles.
“Newborn services, including maternity, postpartum and [neonatal] ICU care, will all continue at Fountain Valley,” the statement read. “We have taken steps to maintain continuity, access and quality for all impacted patients.”
Respiratory therapists represented by AFSCME Local 3299 were also impacted by the layoff, with seven losing their jobs at the Fountain Valley hospital. They comprised half of the staff that had specialized training in neonatal, pediatric and adult care.
“This is a critical staffing crisis that we have now just to manage our neonatal intensive care unit,” said Deanna Towns, a laid off respiratory therapist. “It’s possible that there will be days where there may not be a respiratory therapist that can attend a critical delivery or help with resuscitation.”
Eugene Rodriguez, another respiratory therapist who lost his job, said that a week before the layoffs, a mother came into the hospital needing an emergency C-section for twins.
“Luckily, we had two respiratory therapists,” he said. “That’s what we need, because we have two separate teams for each baby.”
Layoffs have also touched healthcare workers represented by UPTE-CWA 9119, including child life specialists and quality improvement specialists.
“If there’s a patient death, it’s fully investigated,” Julia Mangione, co-chair of UPTE UCI, said of quality improvement specialists. “We learn everything we can from the incident so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Mangione reported 16 union members were laid off system-wide, with dozens more hit by reduced hours.
For Bell, UCI Health’s restructuring calls into question its priorities.
“It’s putting profits over patients,” she said. “It really shows where UCI Health stands with its community — it doesn’t.”
