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Patients got care during strike 

Editor: 

During the two-day strike by Local 250 on August 2 and 3, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center employees worked very hard to ensure patients come first. The overwhelming majority of our employees and clinicians chose to come to work – including more than 30 percent of our Local 250 employees – they kept a promise to our patients that we will be here to care for them, whenever they need our help. 

More than 650 inpatients were cared for each day of the strike. Nurses, physicians, volunteers, and employees from departments throughout the hospital worked together to make patients comfortable and secure.  

Our caregivers know that anyone who is hospitalized never forgets that hospital stay. It is a critical time for those who welcome a new baby into the world, sit by the bedside of a loved one or suffer the loss of someone close.  

What would have happened to even one of the patients who needed our hospitals if care were unavailable to them?  

Hospitals and the care provided can never stop. For example, during the two day strike, on August 2 and 3: 

• 51 babies were born during that two day period. We were here for those new families. 

• 7 new babies were admitted to our Newborn Intensive Care Nurseries. We were here for those vulnerable infants. 

• 409 people were cared for in our Emergency Departments. We were here, helping patients get the urgent help they needed. 

• 133 surgeries were performed. We were here, helping patients receive the care they deserve. 

• 52 patients reside in our subacute unit. We were here, watching over them and making them more comfortable. 

What would have happened to even one of these patients had we not been here for them? 

The medical staffs of our hospitals are very grateful that so many of our health care workers came to work to care for those who needed our care. You kept the promise — you put patients first.  

Barry Horn, MD, President, Alta Bates Medical Staff 

Sam Dong, MD, President, Summit Medical Staff