Caregivers to Picket Prime Healthcare’s West Anaheim Medical Center on Wednesday, Oct. 28, seeking fair salaries to address chronic understaffing

Picket lines will run from 6:30 to 8 am and 11 am to 2 pm.

Healthcare workers will picket Prime Healthcare’s West Anaheim Medical Center on Wednesday, October 28, to inform community members that the hospital’s below-market wages risk worsening existing understaffing at the hospital, which is among a select number in the county accredited to receive emergency heart attack patients.

“There’s no excuse for a hospital that makes so much money to lowball us in contract negotiations when we’re already understaffed and losing good coworkers,” said Letedata McKnight, a monitor tech. “We’re underpaid and understaffed, and we’re determined to change that.”

WHO/WHAT: Healthcare workers, including nursing assistants, pharmacy technicians, monitor technicians and housekeepers, wearing red, chanting and walking picket lines.

WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 8 am and 11 am to 2 pm Wednesday, October 28, in front of West Anaheim Medical Center, 3033 W. Orange Ave., Anaheim.

West Anaheim Medical Center is a for-profit 219-bed hospital owned by Prem Reddy’s Prime Healthcare, a Southern California-based company that operates 55 hospitals and 360 outpatient facilities in 14 states. The company has paid $103.75 million in federal fines for false billing between 2018 and 2021.

Prime reported a $24 million net profit last year from operating West Anaheim Medical Center. West Anaheim’s 13 percent profit margin was among the highest among Orange County hospitals. Still, Prime is refusing to invest in its workforce or the care they provide, leaving patients with fewer caregivers than nearby hospitals.

• Low Pay: The median hourly wage for nursing assistants at West Anaheim is $27.47; for EMTs, the median hourly wage is $24.28; and for pharmacy techs, the median hourly wage is $25.99 — none of which amounts to a living wage in Orange County for a family with two working parents and one child, based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator. In a recent union survey, 72 percent of respondents reported spending at least half their income on housing.

• Understaffing: Key staffing metrics show that West Anaheim operates with fewer staff than the average hospital in Orange County. One metric — Full-Time-Equivalent Employees per Adjusted Occupied Bed — shows that patients at West Anaheim receive 4.13 hours of staff time, compared with an average of 4.65 hours across all hospitals in Orange County.

• Low staffing harms patients: Between 2023 and 2026, health inspectors cited West Anaheim for 65 deficiencies, including violations of psychiatric staffing ratios and inadequate patient monitoring. The statewide average for that time period was 40 deficiencies.

In contract negotiations, West Anaheim is insisting on annual cost-of-living raises that would average out to less than 3 percent per year, leaving workers further behind as prices continue to rise.

“We want to provide the best services for every patient, and we can’t do that when we’re understaffed and struggling to keep good workers here,” said Emmanuel Richard, a phlebotomist. “Everything we’re seeking in negotiations would help make West Anaheim a better hospital to give and receive care.”

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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii.