FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 2, 2025

Anaheim, CA – Registered Nurses represented by SEIU 121RN at Anaheim Regional Medical Center held an informational picket today to alert the public to the impact of unsafe staffing levels and widespread disrepair — concerns they have raised in ongoing contract negotiations with ARMC management, which began in November.

The Nurses said that hospital management fosters a culture of neglect, in which security lapses, rampant equipment failures, and unsafe staffing levels drive nurses away.

“We risk losing more great nurses for every day that management refuses to take our concerns seriously,” said Cari McComb-Long, a Registered Nurse who works in the hospital’s ICU department. “Our patients deserve safe staffing levels, and hospital management has the opportunity to fix these problems at the bargaining table.”

In addition, nurses say that they are exposed to potential harm when they are made to intercept weapons and other contraband entering the hospital, with some nurses even reporting that they have had to personally disarm patients. The threat of workplace violence is a growing threat throughout the healthcare profession, and Anaheim Regional nurses have proposed contract language to bolster hospital security, some of which the hospital management has rejected.

“Our patients deserve a safe environment, and it doesn’t appear that management is taking these problems seriously,” said Roxanne McMahan, a Registered Nurse who works in the hospital’s Medical-Surgical/Telemetry department.

Anaheim Regional Medical Center is owned by AHMC Healthcare, Inc., which owns nine California healthcare facilities, five of which are in Southern California. SEIU 121RN represents more than 300 nurses at the hospital, who voted for union representation in August 2024.

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