As the US hovers on the edge of another season of respiratory viruses, some health care workers are preparing to swap their medical instruments for picket signs, sounding the alarm about a staffing crisis that they say is already affecting patient care.
“Workers are up at night, the day before their shift, just thinking about what they’re going to walk into the next day because of short staffing,” said Gabe Montoya, an emergency room medical technician at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center in Southern California. “I’m being honest. It’s not hyperbole.”
Montoya, who has worked for the medical center for 15 years, is also part of the bargaining team at Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, a local union that is part of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
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