2020/12/22 13:01 FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, registered nurse Virginia Petersen works on a computer while assisting a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy. FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, registered nurse Virginia Petersen works on a computer while assisting a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. California is desperately searching for nurses, doctors and other medical staff, perhaps from overseas, to meet demands as the coronavirus surge pushes hospitals across the state to the breaking point. With many of the state s hospitals running out of capacity to treat the severest cases, the state has brought in and deployed more than 500 extra staff but it needs a total of 3,000 temporary medical staff members. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
California desperately looks for more nurses and doctors
CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 21: Long-term care patient Carlos Alegre smiles after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Birch Patrick Skilled Nursing Facility at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center on December 21, 2020 in Chula Vista, California. 72-year-old Alegre is the first patient to receive the vaccine in San Diego County. Long-term care patients and frontline healthcare workers are among those in the CDCs highest priority group for vaccination. Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP
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. Updated: 22 Dec 2020, 12:46 PM IST AP
Much of California has exhausted its usual ability to staff intensive care beds, and the nation s most populated state is desperately searching for 3,000 temporary medical workers to meet demand
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S., Sara Houze has been on the road going from one hospital to another to care for COVID-19 patients on the brink of death.
A cardiac intensive care nurse from Washington, D.C., with expertise in heart rhythm, airway and pain management, her skills are in great demand as infections and hospitalizations skyrocket nationwide. Houze is among more than 500 nurses, doctors and other medical staff California has deployed to hospitals that are running out of capacity to treat the most severe COVID-19 cases.
Her six-week assignment started Monday in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, and she anticipates working 14-hour shifts with a higher-than-usual caseload. San Bernardino County has 1,545 people in hospitals and more than 125 are in makeshift “surge” beds, which are being used because regular hospital space isn’t available.
Dive Brief:
Union nurses and HCA Healthcare reached a tentative contract agreement that members at three Southern California hospitals will vote on Tuesday and Wednesday, effectively averting a 10-day strike planned to start Christmas Eve.
The new contract includes greater transparency and communication on emergency preparedness plans from the hospitals to employees and guarantees the hospitals will provide personal protective equipment as required by state law, according to a statement from Service Employees International Union 121RN. It also stipulates the hiring of dozens of nurses at each hospital to ensure other staff get adequate rest and meal breaks.
If ratified, it will be the first union contract for employees at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California. About 120 pharmacists, clinical laboratory scientists, physical, speech and occupational therapists, social workers and dietitians formed their union in December of 2019.