Nurses demand Watsonville Community Hospital stay open

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) Nurses working at Watsonville Community Hospital are holding a press conference advocating to have the hospital stay open.

Hospital employees received an email and a letter about the future of the hospital and permanent layoffs last week, claiming they were facing significant financial challenges that were made worse by the pandemic. The hospital said they hope to sell WCH as part of a chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization process.

Watsonville Community Hospital to close if they don’t find a buyer

“It is hard to believe that, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are forced to take this serious step to warn and call on our hard-hit community to help us hold this outsider for-profit company accountable for placing our patients, community, and nurses in harm’s way,” said Gloria Amaya, RN in the labor and delivery unit. “My fellow nurses and I will always stand up as advocates. Patients, not corporate profits, are nurses’ bottom line.”

KION's Jonathan Sarabia will have all the details tonight at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.