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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
Hospitals: ‘We’re getting sold out’
Public Notice: Special Test Market
Continued from PageAl
to the mandated shutdown
of elective surgeries, low
volumes in the emergency
department and clinic ser
vices and the increased costs
of (protective equipment)
and surge preparation,” the
hospital said in a statement.
The hospital’s statement
noted up to a 40% drop in
monthly revenue, reductions
in staffing, mandatory leave
for managers and a restric
tion on all purchases not
affecting patient care.
“Although we antici
pate volumes improving,
we must continue this high
level of efficiency as we
have no guarantee that vol
umes resume to the historic
levels we were seeing pre-
COVID-19,” the statement
said. “We must also be mind
ful and prepared for a resur
gence of COVID-19 in the
fall and winter months. All
forms of financial assistance
are critical to help CMH
bridge the gaps in volumes
and extraordinary costs.”
Columbia Memorial laid
off around 90 support staff
and caregivers represented
by the Service Employees
International Union. Some
have been called back as the
hospital restarts elective pro
cedures. In a statement, Meg
Niemi, the regional union
president, called on the hos
pital to use the federal relief
funds to protect workers and
bring back nearly 80 care
givers still jobless and with
out health care coverage.
“We would like to see
these funds support job pro
tections, essential pay access
to quality child care and
100% health care coverage
for (coronavirus) costs and
keeping benefits in place,
even during a layoff,” she
said.
‘We’re getting sold out’
Columbia
Memorial
faced criticism last year
during contract negotiations
with nurses who claimed the
administration was stockpil
ing profits for a new cam
pus amid dangerously low
staffing levels, inconsis
tent scheduling and low pay.
Those concerns have wors
ened during the pandemic,
according to the nurses’
union, during which three
nurses have been laid off and
others have seen their hours
drastically cut because of
low patient counts.
Becki Glasson, a mother
of four and a nurse at Colum
bia Memorial for 23 years,
said she has lost around two-
thirds of her income from the
hospital since the pandemic
began. Nurses have pushed
the hospital to cover some
of their lost hours, some
thing Glasson said Oregon
Health & Science Univer
sity did for its nurses but that
her employer has declined to
support.
“They want to save it to
build a new hospital on the
backs of the nurses,” Glasson
said of Columbia Memori
al’s reserves. “While they’re
getting bailed out, we’re get
ting sold out.”
Amber Cooper, a union
representative for around
130 nurses at the hospital
through the Oregon Nurses
Association, said the union
is contemplating complaints
to the state Occupational
Safety and Health Admin
istration and the Oregon
Health Authority over what
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Dates:
Now through June 13th 2020
Photos by Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
TOP:
Columbia
Memorial
Hospital
received
$8.4
million from the federal
government in the wake of
the coronavirus pandemic.
ABOVE: Providence Seaside
Hospital received $6.2 million
from the federal government.
RIGHT: Ocean Beach Hospital
received $4.3 million from
the federal government.
they argue are unsafe work
ing conditions as the hospital
resumes elective procedures.
“The hospital is pushing
to increase patient loads,”
Cooper said. “They want our
nurses to take more patients
to help cover their financial
losses, which we don’t feel
is safe.”
The nurses’ union has
been trying to get Columbia
Memorial and other hospi
tals to agree to a memoran
dum of understanding for
increased financial support
and protections.
“Plenty of the hospitals,
they’ve been ignoring us and
won’t agree to these MOUs,
and are just collecting the
money from the state and the
feds,” Cooper said.
Cash reserves
During recent negotia
tions for an agreement to
expand paid leave, Cooper
said, she pressed the hos
pital about millions in cash
reserves supposedly set aside
to help build a new campus
and was told it had been tied
up in the stock market.
“They basically took their
savings that was supposed
to go toward building a new
hospital, and they’ve been
trying to increase it by put
ting it in the stock market,”
Cooper said. “And now, the
stock market takes a hit, and
there went the money for the
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new hospital.”
Part of the nurses’ union’s
push to keep their members
employed is to cross-train
them to deal with a poten
tial surge in elderly corona
virus patients from nursing
homes.
“The nursing homes are
what will inundate CMH,”
she said. “Right now, the
big numbers Clatsop County
have seen did not all end up
being hospitalized. But nurs
ing homes will end up hav
ing tons of people who need
to come in for ventilators. So
if it hits the nursing homes
in Clatsop County, CMH is
screwed.”
The criticisms of Colum
bia Memorial come amid
larger questions about the
efficacy of the Provider
Relief Fund, which did not
take into account the cash
reserves of hospitals. Distri
butions from the fund have
so far largely benefitted large
hospital chains with signifi
cant cash reserves.
Providence Health Sys
tems, a nonprofit that doesn’t
pay federal taxes and has a
reported $12 billion in cash
reserves it invests much of
on the stock market, had
received more than $500
million from the fund as of
late last month, according to
The New York Times. That
includes more than $100
million received by Provi
dence Health & Services in
Oregon, including the $6.2
million attributable to Prov
idence Seaside Hospital.
Protests: ‘We are always delighted to
find people who believe in social justice’
Continued from PageAl
in Astoria for George Floyd,
a black man killed by Min
neapolis police.
“I saw that we had a pro
test, but it was only for one
day, and I wanted to do some
thing more than that,” she
said. “So I started designing
the flyer and everything and
then I posted it, and it spread
all over everywhere.”
The largest turnout so far
was on Saturday afternoon,
when a few hundred peo
ple converged downtown. A
cadre of counterprotesters
— far-right activists with the
message “All Lives Matter”
Office of Research
— have sought to disrupt the
demonstrations.
“I feel I’ve accom
plished a lot of people com
ing out here,” Lopez said. “I
remember Saturday’s pro
test, hundreds of people
marched. Seeing that, I was
like, ‘Wow, I can make a dif
ference in this town,’ and I
think I will.”
Lopez, who founded the
multicultural club at Warren-
ton High School, said she has
received help from several
people and organizations.
“And I really appreci
ate that support, and I think
that will help me get further
in this journey of spreading
the awareness and spreading
that we can change some
thing,” she said.
Activists with Indivis
ible North Coast Oregon,
a progressive group, have
participated in the protests
and organized car parades
to honk and cheer on the
demonstrators.
Laurie
Caplan,
the
group’s chairwoman, said
she was thrilled to learn
a student was behind the
protests. “We are always
delighted to find people who
believe in social justice and
racial justice and are willing
to step up and act on their
belief,” she said.
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Mention Code: 20JunSTM