On May 1 Nurses at Saint John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard marched on the picket line with their SEIU-UHW colleagues to protest the hospital’s plan to outsource the jobs of Monitor Technicians—who play a critical role in patient care—to a call center in Phoenix, Arizona.

“We’ve already experienced delays of 2 minutes and even miscommunication of up to 40 minutes,” said Telemetry Nurse Christian Luna “When it comes to the oxygenation of the human body, seconds are life.”

The Nurses and Monitor Technicians sounded the alarm about risks to both worker and patient safety. Technicians play a critical role in monitoring and analyzing patients’ heart activities to detect any irregularities or potential problems.

Days after the picket, a group of St. John’s Nurses and Monitor Techs attended an Oxnard City Council meeting, where they voiced their concerns to city leaders.

Nurses issued dire warnings about the plan in a cover story in the Ventura County Star that followed: Remote heart monitoring at St. John's hospitals sparks fears about delays in care, May 24, 2024