FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, July 29, 2022

Contact: Andrew Baker, 510-679-8420

andrew.baker@seiu1021.org

SEIU 1021 Members Applaud the Suspension of Patient Transfers from Laguna Honda Hospital

Stopping these transfers will save lives and protect patients

The following statement can be attributed to Theresa Rutherford, the incoming President-Elect of SEIU 1021 and a longtime certified nurse assistant at Laguna Honda Hospital:

“Keeping patients at Laguna Honda, where they are provided some of the most unique and comprehensive care available in this country, is a matter of life and death for many. From day one, we have called on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to exercise compassion for the humanity of patients in their decision-making. While a temporary pause on transfers is an important first step, we must fight for the pause on transfers to be permanent.

Transfer trauma is a very real danger for patients, and the ones who call Laguna Honda home are often some of the most vulnerable and susceptible to the dangers. It breaks our hearts to know that that four people already died as a result of the forced transfers ordered by CMS. 

Many of our patients are economically-challenged people from communities of color with very complex healthcare needs; Laguna Honda is their home and many of them have nowhere else to go. The last thing they need is the threat of transfer or the possibility of homelessness hanging over them if they must leave Laguna Honda. We must demand better of ourselves than an injustice such as this. As Gandhi said, ‘A civilization is measured by how it treats its weakest members.’

We continue to call on CMS to work with Laguna Honda’s leadership, patients, and workers as well as our community and city leaders to save Laguna Honda Hospital. We must focus on taking every necessary step available to protect access to the live-saving care that our community depends on.”