C e l e b r a t i n g 2 7 Ye a r s o f Service in Inglewood, Airport area Communities
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August 26 - September 1, 2021 VOL. 36, No. 34
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Centinela Hospital Under Fire Nurses allege unsafe conditions
County.” “Just like ours, hospitals across the country continue to face critical shortages of nursing staff, beds, and often medical supplies, during a strikingly high demand for hospital services,” the hospital said. Centinela said it is “aggressively pursuing every potential source to find and schedule qualified nurses, including shift incentives for existing staff, registry, and travelers, often at extraordinary cost.”
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Inglewood’s local hospital is under fire from a group of 30 nurses who allege they are severely understaffed and sometimes forced to work 12-hour shifts without a break. A similar situation forced more than 220 nurses to leave Centinela in 2020, according to the California Nurses Association (CNA), which represents 475 registered nurses at the Inglewood hospital. During the most critical times in the midst of the ever evolving COVID-19 pandemic, Centinela is essential for the community health needs. Nurses at Centinela say understaffing has left them overworked and is impacting patient care. “When nurses work without being able to take a break they’re more likely to make errors, and that’s not safe for patients,” said Paige Egizi, a nurse who works in Centinela’s emergency room. “Sometimes we’re lucky if we get to run to the bathroom.” Centinela Hospital Medical Center lost 226 nurses last year although many new nurses were brought in to help bridge the gap, a union official said. Egizi said state-mandated nurseto-patient ratios are routinely being compromised at the hospital. “ER nurses who have critical patients should only be taking care of two patients, but sometimes we’ll have four — and that’s against the
law,” the 30-year-old Palms resident said. “When that happens you can’t give everyone the care they deserve.” California is the only state in the U.S. to legally require a specific number of nurses to patients in every hospital unit. Data from United Nurses Associations of California and the United Union of Health Care Professionals show the state requires one ER nurse for each
trauma patient and one ER nurse for every two critical-care patients. Centinela responds In a statement released, Centinela stated; “Frontline workers across the country have been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. And Centinela, the statement said, is a safety-net hospital located within one of the hardest hit areas in Los Angeles
Regardless of those efforts, many Centinela nurses have opted to leave. “We lost 226 nurses at Centinela in 2020, and that’s not counting the losses we’ve had in 2021,” CNA labor representative Sandra Ocampo said. “They hired new nurses, but that still left us 60 short and we have 70 openings now.” Centinela said the hospital and CNA reached a new three-year contract agreement over a year ago that included annual pay increases, free-ofcharge health insurance and retirement benefits following months of active bargaining. “While we do not agree with the manner in which the unions are choosing to communicate, we do recognize their right to do so,” the hospital said. “This activity will not deter from our focus on providing quality patient care to all members of our community.”
Commentary: Here’s Why You Need to Vote in the California Recall Election By Rick Callender
On September 14 a special election will be held to determine whether Governor Gavin Newsom should be recalled. This is only the fourth time in American history - that a state has held a gubernatorial recall election. The last gubernatorial recall election in California took place nearly 20 years ago. This recall election was triggered after the Secretary of State certified that 1.7 million Californians signed a petition demanding a vote to remove Newsom from the office he assumed in January 2019. Under state law, to initiate a recall, proponents need
to collect the signatures of enough registered voters to equal 12% of the turnout in the prior governor’s race. The recall ballots will ask two questions. The first is a simple yesor-no question: should Newsom be recalled. If 50% or more of voters mark ‘NO’ then the effort to recall Newsom is defeated. However, if more than 50% mark ‘YES’ then the second question comes into play: who should replace him? There are 46 names on the ballot and the candidate with the most votes, as dictated by state law, will become governor for the remainder of Newsom’s term – which is through January 2023.
Whether or not you support Newsom your vote in this election matters. When we cast a vote, we win. We are represented. That’s the power that lies at the heart of the democratic process. It is the beauty of having free and fair elections. Blacks Americans have a long history of struggling to exercise their right as citizens to vote. Those who came of age before 1965, less than 60 years ago, felt it all too keenly, particularly in the South, where they were systematically turned away from polling places. Once they secured the vote, the idea of not even attempting to participate in an election would have
been an abdication of their rights as Americans. The people we entrust with our vote to lead us -- whether it is at the federal, state, or local level – are responsible for developing policies and legislation that affect how safe we are in our homes and communities, our access to quality health care and education, the financial opportunities available to us, and more. An outcome of the 2020 Presidential election cycle has been an extension of the unprecedented assault on voting rights beginning with the Supreme Continued on page 7
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