UPDATE, 3:26 p.m.:

Providence sent the following statement in response to the union’s press release:

Our goal as Humboldt’s leading health provider is to continue meeting our community’s most pressing needs. We are grateful to the California Legislature and specifically, our local state officials, Assemblymember Wood and Senator McGuire for their support of SB 1119 that led to its passage, and we’re hopeful that Governor Newsom will also be supportive as he considers this bill among thousands of others over the next two weeks. 

The passage of SB 1119 won’t reverse the closure of the ARU at the General Hospital Campus, but it affords Providence the necessary time to decommission the building (to reach seismic compliance) while determining an appropriate use for the space.

Although the unit is closing effective November 18, there are several construction projects that need to take place to be fully compliant with seismic regulations. That work will take us well beyond the upcoming January 1, 2025, deadline, reinforcing our requirement to suspend in-patient rehabilitations services at the General Hospital Campus. 

We have worked collaboratively with the State’s Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) over the past several months to ensure rehabilitation services are available within our community before announcing the closure of the unit.  

We are proud to have found an innovative solution to ensure rehabilitative care remains local in Humboldt through our collaboration with Rockport’s Granada Rehabilitation and Wellness Center. 

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Press release from the National Union of Healthcare Workers:

Eureka, Calif. — The National Union of Healthcare Workers is calling on Providence to keep its rehabilitation center open, citing a bill awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature that eases seismic requirements for hospitals. Providence lobbied in support of SB 1119, which would effectively waive seismic requirements for two years at the General Hospital campus in Eureka, where Providence houses its Acute Rehabilitation Unit.

The bill, which passed both the Assembly and State Senate last week, could be signed into law by Gov. Newsom later this month. Yet, despite lawmakers acting to provide more time for Providence to achieve seismic compliance so that it can maintain a critical community service in Humboldt County, the hospital chain announced last month that it would shutter the rehab center and move services to a Brius nursing home.

Providence made no mention of the bill in its recent news release announcing the impending closures: 

“Currently, acute rehabilitation services are located at the General Hospital campus in Eureka but due to the state’s mandated seismic (earthquake) structural standards, the General Hospital campus does not meet those standards and will no longer be able to provide inpatient services after 2024.”

“Providence has no reason to close its rehabilitation center, and we call on the company to immediately reverse its decision,” said Kellie Shaner, a monitor tech at St. Joseph Hospital. “Providence just successfully lobbied to buy more time to meet seismic standards only to now claim that it has no choice other than to close medical services that Humboldt County residents have depended on for decades.”

On August 20, 2024 Providence announced its intent to close its Acute Rehabilitation Unit in Eureka. The rehab center provides intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy services — in addition to wraparound social services — in an inpatient setting and is designed for those who are recovering from critical injuries, strokes, surgeries and diseases. 

Instead of providing the service directly, Providence announced that it would partner with Brius, a nursing home company that has been repeatedly cited by state authorities for patient care violations and controls a monopoly of skilled nursing facilities in Humboldt County. Rehabilitation services would be moved to the Granada Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, which has been fined for failing to self-report abuse. 

Providence’s plan to close its rehab center comes on the heels of its decision to sell its outpatient laboratory services in Humboldt County and shutter its birthing center at Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna.

“Since taking over for St. Joseph Health, Providence has continued to cut services in Humboldt County,” said Willow Svien, an occupational therapist at St. Joseph Hospital. “As local healthcare workers, we’re determined to keep care in our communities, and we will hold Providence accountable when it puts its bottom line over the needs of our patients.”

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The National Union of Healthcare Workers represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including more than 600 Providence employees in Humboldt County at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna.