During the 13 years I’ve worked at St. Louise Regional Hospital, I’ve met a lot of community members, including the patient who recently told me that I conducted her ultrasound exam when she was pregnant with her son, who is now 13 years old. I was touched that she remembered me.
My conversation with her reinforced for me how long the hospital has been in Gilroy and how generations have valued it and want to see it saved. I share their concern, and that’s why I and so many other healthcare workers across California oppose selling the hospital—and the five others owned by Daughters of Charity Health System—to Prime Healthcare.
Prime Healthcare is a company that rarely has the community’s best interests in mind. After purchasing hospitals throughout the country, it cuts services, stops accepting health insurance from providers, raises prices on remaining services and lays off workers. How does that help anyone other than Prime?
That history is why so many people oppose selling the hospitals to Prime. Eighteen members of California’s Congressional delegation and 54 current and former state legislators have said selling to Prime would be bad for the communities they serve. Community organizations, county and local elected officials, and labor unions representing two million workers agree that Prime would bring more harm than good to places like Gilroy. They’ve all urged California Attorney General Kamala Harris to block the sale.
I wish Daughters of Charity would stop treating healthcare workers like we don’t know what’s going on here. We know what’s at stake and we know the community deserves access to the best care in the best facilities. No healthcare worker wants the hospitals to close.
But when Daughters of Charity says the only choice is between selling to Prime or closing the hospitals, that’s just false. They do that just to scare hospital workers and community members.
The truth is that there is a better option than Prime Healthcare, one that doesn’t risk bankruptcy. A company called Blue Wolf Capital tried to buy the hospitals but was passed over by Daughters of Charity. Healthcare workers support Blue Wolf’s bid because it protects the safety-net mission of St. Louise and the other hospitals, protects jobs and provides $300 million to improve aging facilities, which is twice as much as Prime promises. Also, Blue Wolf doesn’t use “junk” bonds to pay for the deal (like Prime) nor is Blue Wolf facing federal investigations and lawsuits (like Prime).
The community deserves to know Daughters of Charity is serious about protecting St. Louise and the five other hospitals it owns. No more games. No more delays. Go with the buyer that wants to keep St. Louise strong and that comes with a clean record: Blue Wolf Capital.
Marc A. Quarles is an ultrasound technician at Saint Louise Regional Hospital.
