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Press release from the National Union of Healthcare Workers:

Workers are fighting back against the loss of birthing centers, urgent care centers and rehabilitation centers as Providence, the nation’s fifth largest nonprofit hospital system, also faces labor unrest in Oregon and fallout from a charity care scandal.

More than 2,000 healthcare workers at Providence hospitals and hospices throughout Northern California are holding their first region-wide Day of Action to call attention to severe understaffing and sharp cuts to health services in communities that are dependent on Providence for their medical care. 

For the first time, Providence workers, who include respiratory therapists, medical technicians, nursing assistants and hospice nurses, are teaming up across Northern California on a unified campaign seeking to make Providence provide competitive salaries and benefits so it can restore safe staffing levels and limit Providence’s ability to slash services in the wake of a series of closures.

“In Humboldt County, we’re almost entirely dependent on Providence for medical services, but instead of safeguarding that care, Providence is acting like a greedy monopolist,” said Kellie Shaner, a telemetry tech at St. Joseph Hospital Eureka. “Since the pandemic, Providence has closed a local birthing center, rehabilitation center and lab, and we fear more closures are inevitable unless we fight together to keep care and caregivers in our community.” 

WHO/WHAT: Day of Action picket lines authorized by more than 2,000 Providence workers in Northern California, who are members of the National Union of Union of Healthcare Workers.

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, Feb. 12 outside four hospitals and two hospices in Humboldt, Napa and Sonoma counties.

See Below for a full list of times and locations.

Providence is the nation’s fifth-largest nonprofit hospital system. Based in Washington State, it gained a foothold in Northern California with its 2016 takeover of St. Joseph Health, and now controls nearly two-thirds of the licensed acute care hospital beds in Sonoma and Humboldt counties and 57 percent of the licensed acute care hospital beds in Napa County, including the highest-level trauma centers in all three counties. 

Overall, Providence now owns six hospitals in Northern California, five of which have members represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers: Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Petaluma Valley Hospital, Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, and Redwood Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Eureka in Humboldt County. Providence also has two hospices in Sonoma County, both represented by NUHW. 

Providence has $7.8 billion in financial reserves and a $150 million venture capital arm, but it has still laid off workers and sharply reduced available medical services since taking over the Northern California hospitals. Since 2020, Providence has closed its outpatient labs in all three counties, closed birthing centers in Humboldt and Sonoma counties, shuttered the only acute rehab unit in Humboldt County, and closed two urgent care clinics in Sonoma County.
It has also laid off hospice workers in Sonoma County, while increasing caseloads for caregivers so they have less time for patients.

“I remember when we were still St. Joseph, and there was a sincere commitment to doing the right thing for the people in our community,” said Christina Groverman, who has been a nurse in Sonoma County for 27 years, now at Providence Hospice in Petaluma. “Under Providence, it’s all about profit at the expense of patients. We know it’s going to be hard to change Providence’s approach, but all of us see what’s happening, and we’re determined to uphold our commitment to the communities we serve.”

Providence’s quest to maximize profits stretches beyond Northern California and has landed it in the crosshairs of state authorities. In Oregon, nearly 5,000 nurses, represented by the Oregon Nurses Association, have been on strike for a month over concerns about “systemic understaffing.” 

In Washington State, Providence is refunding $21 million in medical bills and erasing $137 million in medical debt to settle charges filed by the Washington State Attorney General’s office that the company sent patients who qualified for charity care to collections. And, in California, then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra rejected a proposed merger between Providence and Adventist hospitals in Northern California citing a ”potential to increase health costs, and potentially limit access and availability of healthcare services.”

To improve staffing levels, reduce turnover and safeguard services, unionized Providence workers in Northern California are fighting to win pay and benefits that are comparable to Providence’s biggest regional competitors, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, while also requiring Providence to provide at least five months advanced notice before it closes a service so workers and community members have an opportunity to rally against it. Providence has so far rejected being forced to provide advanced notice of service closures and is proposing annual raises of less than 2 percent for nearly all workers.

Under Providence, salaries have not kept up compared to its Bay Area competitors, resulting in frequent turnover as workers get experience at Providence hospitals only to leave for nearby Sutter and Kaiser facilities.

“Queen of the Valley is my hometown hospital, and I can’t be quiet when I see Napa residents waiting longer for care because we’re understaffed or our equipment is too old and unreliable,” said Gabby Caro, a scheduler in the hospital’s imaging department. “We’re constantly losing caregivers because Providence pays so much less than Sutter and Kaiser, and that means less care for our community.”

Picket Schedule – Wednesday Feb. 12. 

Sonoma County
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
1165 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa
7 to 9 a.m.
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
3 to 6 p.m.

Petaluma Valley Hospital
400 N McDowell Blvd., Petaluma
7 to 9 am. 11 to 1 p.m. 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Hospice of Petaluma
416 Payran St., Petaluma
7 to 9 a.m.

Memorial Hospice - Santa Rosa
439 College Ave., Santa Rosa
7 to 9 a.m.
4:30 to 6 p.m.

Napa County
Queen of the Valley Medical Center
1000 Trancas St., Napa
6:30 to 8:30 a.m.
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
3:30 to 6 p.m.

Humboldt County
St. Joseph Hospital - Eureka
2700 Dolbeer St., Eureka
3 to 6 p.m.