Registered nurses from Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital will hold a rally at Heritage Park in Valencia on Saturday, June 20, starting at 10 a.m., to address patient safety issues at the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These issues include the reuse of personal protective equipment or PPE which can lead to the exposure and transmission of dangerous pathogens, including COVID-19, and the recent layoffs of experienced nurses from the emergency department despite current staffing shortages which can negatively impact care, according to a news release from the California Nurses Association.

Nurses are currently being instructed by hospital management to wear the same PPE during an entire shift. PPE is designed for single use only and if a nurse had reused PPE prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, that nurse would likely have faced disciplinary action and possible termination.

The hospital’s decision to ration PPE and implement unsafe PPE protocols not only leaves the nurses open to exposure and infection of disease, but also increases the risk that patients will be exposed and possibly infected.

In addition, nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital are calling on the hospital to reinstate recently laid off nurses due to the critical need in the emergency department. Nurses are working above and beyond the California safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios law, which is designed to provide a minimum standard for safe patient care.

Throughout the hospital, there is an ongoing problem of short staffing which leads to delays in patient care, an increase in workplace violence threats, and, most unfortunately, a number of patients being forced to leave the hospital without ever being seen by medical staff.

Incredibly, despite these shortages, management at Henry Mayo Newhall have chosen to lay off 19 experienced nurses. To compensate for these staffing shortages, management is asking the remaining staff to work overtime. Studies show that exhausted and stressed nurses are more likely to make errors on the job than nurses who are working in well-staffed and supportive environments.

The nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital are members of this community, and they are committed to providing the best care possible for all their family members, friends, and neighbors who seek care at the hospital. But the nurses are not able to do that without the proper PPE and the support of the experienced nurses with whom they have worked alongside for years.

Heritage Park is located at 24155 Newhall Ranch Rd., Valencia 91355.