WorkWeek looks at the Kaiser healthcare suicides of patients who have mental health problems. Family members who have lost relatives of suicides and NUHW healthcare clinicians talk about their struggle to get appointments and the drive for profit by Kaiser that limits services.
Kaiser NUHW mental healthcare workers launched a five-day strike on December 10, 2018, to demand proper staffing to serve their patients and decent working conditions. They were also joined by CNA nurses at the Kaiser hospitals.
Kaiser which has been fined previously by the state of California is refusing to promptly treat seriously ill patients and is outsourcing the work to contractors.
According to the workers and families, this is creating a serious healthcare crisis and in some cases is leading to suicides and deaths.
According to the union and Congressman Patrick Kennedy, it is also violating the law of California and the US. Kennedy called on the California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra to conduct an investigation of Kaiser because of its failure to provide proper care to patients with mental healthcare problems and also cost shifting by Kaiser to limit their liability. Kennedy charged that they are pushing patients onto Social Security and onto local county health systems to increase their profits.
Next, WorkWeek looks at the effort of UC and the regents to develop People’s Park in Berkeley and who is behind this. Michael Delacour a retired boilermaker and Thomas Lord and opponent of privatization of the park discusses the struggle to defend the park and how it will affect the students and working people who use the park.
Additional media:
Kaiser NUHW Workers Strike Against Short Staffing Threatening Healthcare
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8SjlVXpmAI&t=9s
Kaiser NUHW Healthcare Workers Protest Retaliatory Firing Of Whistleblower Dr. Alex Wang
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPcY_bhGj54
www.dailycal.org/2018/09/14/peopl…th-fighting-for/
NUHW Therapists demand action in response to tragic Santa Rosa suicide that highlights the failures of Kaiser Permanente’s mental health care services
nuhw.org/therapists-demand-ac…ealth-care-services/
static1.squarespace.com/static/5a7985…lic+Space.pdf
www.peoplespark.org
Cal removes 42 trees at People’s Park to ‘address long-deferred maintenance’
www.berkeleyside.com/2018/12/28/cal…QevpTrOwLTJcH0
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