Nurses taking stand against SVMHS board
Nurses at the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System in Salinas say the hospital’s board of directors is not fully committed to public health.
During a town hall meeting on Thursday, nurses took aim at how much the CEO is getting paid, saying public hospitals should be investing more in patient care than executive salaries.
The group of nurses and healthcare providers also think the hospital’s current board of directors pays too much attention to big business.
“We have in the past had hospital boards that are mainly big business, and they have failed and failed over again,” said Jeanne Hayashi, a registered nurse.
Last year, SVMHS President and CEO Pete Delgado earned about $827,000. That is compared to Natividad CEO Gary Gray, who made about $429,000. And according to job website indeed.com, the Desert Healthcare District CEO in Palm Springs averages about $200,000 a year.
“Maybe we need to look at some of those salaries and think about where we should be putting some our money,” said Hayashi. “Should it be going back to the public that we represent? I don’t know, but we do know that the board of directors that are stepping out are the ones that approved that.”
The hospital is firing back. In a statement, they defended the CEO’s compensation saying,” The Board also works with outside compensation experts who understand the complexities of the healthcare market to set the compensation of the CEO, currently approaching the midpoint of the range to be competitive for CEOs and presidents of hospitals and health systems in the market.”
The hospital also says they already spend about $32 million in charity care, bad debt and uncompensated care. But nurse say it is not just about their pay, but having a board that listens to its employees.
“We are with our patients 24/7, so we need to have a board that is responsive to the patients and to the employees and the community, not just administrators or big business,” said Hayashi.
That is why the nurses are endorsing three new candidates for the board of directors.
SVMHS responded with this statement:
“We understand this is an election year and the political nature of campaigns in general. Salinas Valley Memorial is not only proud of the quality of patient care we provide, we also consider it a responsibility to be an outstanding employer in this community, providing competitive pay and benefits to all of our employees, including our skilled and compassionate nurses who provide excellent care to our patients and families.”
SVMHS is a public district hospital, which means they do collect taxes from the community. But they say they only collect $4 million in property taxes each year out of their $450 million.
