Speak Out! Stop The Discharges At Laguna Honda Hospital! Discharges = Deaths

Speak Out
Stop The Discharges At Laguna Honda Hospital!
Discharges = Deaths

Despite unanimous opposition from the community and labor to the continued discharge of patients at San Francisco City’s Laguna Honda Hospital, Mayor London Breed and her hand-picked San Francisco Department of Public Health commissioners have decided that discharges will start again on February 3, 2023.

These discharges have already killed 9 patients of the Hospital. Further discharges will lead directly to more deaths, and they have been warned at DPH hearings. Nursing home workers are already overloaded with patients and not prepared for many of the fragile residents and patients at Laguna Honda.

The SF Board of Supervisors have also refused to stop the discharges, and Supervisor Mandelman wants to shut down debate by ending hybrid meetings where disabled, community, and labor members can participate remotely.

The fact is that there are not enough healthcare facilities like Laguna Honda. This same Board, and the Department of Public Health director Colfax knew that patients who needed care were being discharged despite needing the care at Laguna Honda. This board and DPH Director Colfax need to be held responsible for these deaths, and Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors must STOP THIS NOW or be held responsible for any further deaths resulting from discharges.

We demand that Newsom and the State Department of Public Health along with US Secretary of Labor Xavi- er Becerra put a halt to these discharges. The Chair of Board Dan Bernal is the Chief of Staff for Nancy Pelosi and yet they are allowing the discharges to start again. Behind this is the drive to privatize the hospital and sell of the land for luxury condos which developers are already planning for. This also a boon for the private nursing home industry which Gavin Newsom and his state agencies refuse to properly regulate and provide oversight.

We need to stop the privatization of public health sys- tem and demand that nursing homes be run properly by the public without billionaires cutting costs for more profits. The outsourcing to consultants and the expenditures of millions of dollars as well has not been trans- parent, and instead of bringing in professionals, they are wasting more money. There are more than 80 billionaires in San Francisco yet we can't keep a public hospital for rehabilitation and care?
Bring your community supporters of the hospital and union brothers and sisters and bring your signs & banners to this speak out.

No Discharges, End The Secrecy By SF Department of Public Health
Labor and Community United To Protect Laguna Honda Hospital

Endorsed by:
Brenda Barros, SEIU 1021 SF General Hospital Chapter President
Cheryl Thornton SEIU 1021 Community Healthcare Chapter Vice Chair
UPTE-CWA 9119
United Front Commitee For A Labor Party
http://www.ufcllp.org
info [at] ufclp.org

We support the following demands:
Please Tell CMS and the Board of Supervisors:

1. Residents already discharged by force must be allowed to return.
2. No closure
3. Funding for existing residents must continue until recertification
4. No loss of beds in this nearly new facility
5. No evictions of Skilled-Nursing-Facility-eligible residents under any circumstances.
6. No eviction for non-SNF-eligible residents until safe and local arrangements are made.
7. We demand transparency in planning changes of Laguna Honda policies and operations.
8. Prevent inappropriate, unnecessary, illegal and unsafe nursing home
admissions. SFDPH must stop the "flow" project of ZSFGH patients and return admission decisions to dedicated LHH Staff who understand how a nursing home operates.
9. SFDPH and government agencies above it (including State and Federal) must provide sufficient mental health and substance use programs and residential beds to give people the care they need. Also, sufficient services must be provided for elders and people with disabilities to stay in their communities where possible.
10. Laguna Honda must be open to all San Franciscans who need
nursing home care
11. Restore admissions to Laguna Honda Hospital.


Trade Unionists Speak Out To Defend Laguna Honda Hospital and Convalescent Hospital From Closure
https://youtu.be/xPDTI1T8EmU

Trade unionists from SEIU 1021 and CWA UPTE UCSF spoke at a press conference in front of Laguna Honda hospital and convalescent facility to protest the deaths of 9 residents who were discharged without a place to go. The Federal government Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Gavin Newsom’s Department of Public Health have ordered Laguna Honda closed for minor infractions. Additionally the DPH management Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax, former LHH CEO Michael Phillips, interim LHH CEO Roland Pickens, LHH’s senior management and senior Nursing leadership, Dr. Edward Chow have supported the discharges and also are supporting permanently reducing the number of beds by 120.

Speakers discussed the dangers of discharging the patients and the need to protect this facility for the patients, community and workers.

This press conference took place on August 15, 2022.

Additional media:
https://soundcloud.com/workweek-radio/ww-8-4-22-fight-to-save-sf-laguna-honda-seiu-1021-sf-tenderloin-housing-clinic-workers
Patients' Families, Supporters Hold SF Rally to Keep Laguna Honda Hospital Open
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco-rally-laguna-honda-hospital/2976789/
SF Laguna Honda Doctors And Whistleblowers Speaks Out At SF Health Commission Hearing
https://youtu.be/OgQfINEQSwo
SF City Dr. Kerr From SF Laguna Honda Hospital Discusses Bullying In The Workplace
https://youtu.be/_shGLuXU9uk
California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR)
http://www.canhr.org
Hundreds of SEIU 1021 SF Non-profit Tenderloin Housing Clinic Workers Strike For Living Wages
https://youtu.be/yCARCOMpFE0
EPIC, LEAN, SF General, Privatization & SEIU 1021 Contract Negotiations: Interview With John Wadsworth
https://youtu.be/eTRAzcbj-yo
Reign Of Terror Against SF SEIU 1021 DPH Members & Other City Workers: Speakout At SF Labor Council
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JN-f8HeN3w&t=7s
SEIU 1021 SFGH Workers Speakout! Stop Racism, Union Busting & Privatization Of SFGH Pharmacy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1XzRrzB9ZI
Racism, Outsourcing and Retaliation At SF Civil Service Commission With HR Director Micki Callahan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqNhPRQeHGk&t=34s
Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.labormedia.net