Last Thursday, August 22, healthcare workers at Laguna Honda Hospital celebrated an incredible victory that seemed like a long shot two years ago: full recertification by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The recertification officially puts Laguna Honda, the only public long-term care facility of its kind in San Francisco, out of danger of closure. A vital, historically meaningful institution has been saved, and its vulnerable residents saved from displacement, by efforts of frontline staff from nursing assistants to registered nurses that have been nothing short of heroic.

“When this whole situation started, the city, community allies, nobody thought we’d be able to achieve recertification. It looked dire and desolate,” said SEIU 1021 President Theresa Rutherford, who has been a nursing assistant at Laguna Honda for over 20 years. ”In the pit of my stomach was the determination that we could not afford to let this happen. Number one, where would those patients go? Laguna Honda is a very unique institution. Number two, a lot of the patients that were there and still are there are people for whom Laguna Honda is home. This would have been major displacement in terms of home, in terms of having people around who know you. You’re not just a patient, you are a resident of Laguna Honda. 

“And we have staff who have been there 20-30 years. It would have been a major displacement in terms of the investment in the work and the value they placed in it. Laguna Honda is not just a place of work, it is a community. The majority of workers are there because they want to be, not because they have to be; because they feel the sense of commitment. It was a place of love and kindness and a very highly-skilled institution that wasn’t just a long-term care facility and rehab facility, but also a groundbreaking facility that explored different ways to do care. It was also a teaching facility.

“On top of that, it’s a very unique institution because of the work that has been done there and because of its historical impact and value to San Francisco. When you put all of that together, it would have been a major loss for the community, but also for the U.S. in terms of groundbreaking healthcare. So there was no choice but to make sure that such an important, impactful, valuable organization remains in our community.”

Chief shop steward and nursing assistant Debbie Arzadon, who has worked at Laguna Honda for eight years, spoke to the challenges of the long, arduous recertification process. “It made a huge impact when the news came in about the decertification. It was clearly a failure of leadership that affected the workers.

“But since then, with the labor partnership with the City and our elected leaders as a team effort to help us recertify Laguna Honda, it’s been good team work. But we were all in together to focus on passing the certification.

“The changes have drastically impacted us. There’s always uncertainty because the City has a resource person which includes consultants. The consultant has different views and opinions that affect everything about the existing practice of Laguna Honda. That creates some trouble for the workers to understand who we should be following – the consultants or management.

“But because of the good spirit of the workers, the joint force of everyone, regardless of different views and opinions about what’s going on, and the participation of the labor union, this recertification has created a lot of things for us to uplift and given us motivation. We’re so happy we overcame these challenges and are fully recertified. Having this kind of celebration for the workers boosts morale.”

“I celebrate Laguna Honda’s continuation, its existence, because it’s so important,” concluded President Rutherford. “It’s reflective of our values as a social justice-oriented union that we fought for this. Standing up for Laguna Honda meant standing up for our community, so we had to do it; we did it; we overcame. It was workers making the sacrifice, dealing with uncertainty, dealing with change, dealing with fear, but proceeding nonetheless and believing that what we’re doing is worth fighting for.”

Thank you to City Hall, including Mayor London Breed and the entire Board of Supervisors, especially Sup. Myrna Melgar, who stood steadfast with our members from beginning to end to help seal this victory. Congratulations, Laguna Honda workers!