By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
Healthcare workers launch nationwide, coordinated workplace actions to demand HCA protect patients, save lives
Q1 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
NASHVILLE, TN — In the first-ever clash of its kind between front-line caregivers and HCA Healthcare Inc (NYSE:HCA), the nation’s largest for-profit healthcare operator, nurses and healthcare workers represented by SEIU, the nation’s largest healthcare union, have launched nationwide, coordinated actions and a multimedia campaign to spotlight the preventable risks they face fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and demanding HCA use its $4.7 billion bailout to protect patients and save lives.
Watch a preview of the national campaign launch video here: ProtectAllPatients.org
Caregivers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic are uniting to demand that Hospital Corporation of America protect all patients and protect all HCA workers. The nationwide actions outside and around a wide range of HCA facilities will include press conferences, rallies, and caregivers wearing scrubs while holding large purple signs highlighting caregiver stories.
HCA Threatening To Lay Off Essential Nurses And Healthcare Workers
“We are still fighting this pandemic, it has not gone away, and every patient still requires the right staffing levels, enough PPE, and the full support of our care team,” said RN Marlyn Hoilette, who is now out sick and in quarantine, awaiting COVID-19 test results. “Yet HCA is forcing a false choice on caregivers and communities. They have been given billions in federal taxpayer dollars and yet they are threatening to lay off essential nurses and healthcare workers or make cuts. We can’t allow the largest healthcare corporation in the country to receive a $4.7 billion bailout and turn around and make cuts in our community.”
Although the healthcare megacorp received a $4.7 Billion federal bailout, HCA has threatened brutal cuts, including layoffs of caregivers. Caregivers have launched a multimedia campaign asking HCA not to prioritize profits over patient lives, and they are taking their message public in actions slated for multiple states today.
HCA is getting $4.7 billion in CARES (COVID-19 bailout) funds and accelerated Medicare payments. HCA CEO Sam Hazen was paid nearly $27M in 2019 according to HCA’s SEC Filings. In addition, executive bonuses are profit related and thus could incentivize executives to restart profitable elective surgeries before it is safe to do so from a public health perspective.
Watch the video at ProtectAllPatients.org.
Video Transcript:
It’s hard to say goodbye to your family every day… knowing that your job may put your life at risk.
It’s hard to come home after a shift and wonder… Is it safe to give your loved one a hug?
It’s hard to be on the front lines… when your employer doesn’t have your back.
The Hospital Corporation of America rakes in huge profits. 3.5 billion in 2019. $27 million in CEO pay.
And now, a $4.7 billion federal government bailout. But instead of using that money to keep healthcare workers safe, so we can keep on saving patient lives… HCA threatens layoffs and doesn’t consistently provide workers with life-saving PPE.
That’s why we’re uniting from coast to coast… And holding HCA accountable.
HCA, you said you “care like family.” We need you to put patients over profits.
Protect all Patients. Protect all HCA workers.
ABOUT SEIU:
More than one million healthcare workers across hospitals, in home care and in nursing homes, are united in. SEIU, the nation’s largest union of healthcare workers. SEIU is an organization of nearly 2 million members.
The post Healthcare Workers Demand HCA Protect Patients appeared first on ValueWalk.
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