Nurses and Patients deserve true leadership
San Joaquin Board of Supervisors and SJGH Administration
The role of a Chief Nursing Officer is to provide leadership and be a champion for nurses, patients, and safe patient care. The CNO of SJGH has not fulfilled those roles. In fact, the policies and practices she has put in place during this pandemic have only put nurses and patients at further risk of exposure and stretched staffing so thin patients are not getting the care they deserve. Rather than focus on long term staffing solutions of settling a fair contract with nurses, CNO Snyder has focused only on short term staffing solutions of traveler nurses. In this direction, the County spent around $14.7 million dollars in 2020 on travelers, and another $8million on strike replacement workers. Where are those travelers now? They have left, and the County as we have warned for more than 2 years is now seeing the effects of their wanton disregard for safe staffing. Additionally, many of the patient safety, nursing practice, and nursing protection takeaways the County is proposing at the bargaining table are championed and held to by CNO Snyder. Many of these takeaways CNO Snyder is demanding in negotiations are the biggest hurdles we face in getting closer to a final agreement on a new fair contract. SJGH nurses need your support to remove CNO Snyder from her failed leadership over nursing departments and from our contract negotiations so that we can reach a fair agreement faster. Sign the petition now.
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
San Joaquin Board of Supervisors and SJGH Administration
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned nurses of San Joaquin County present to the Board of Supervisors this attestation that we have no confidence in the abilities or leadership of San Joaquin General Hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer Belva Snyder. We base this on the following:
1. Ms. Snyder’s failure to adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Snyder has failed to protect nurses, and patients which has cost the County taxpayer dollars and put the community at further risk in a global pandemic.
2. Ms. Snyder’s lack of leadership in nursing services has led to nurses being exposed to and falling ill with the deadly COVID-19 virus.
3. Ms. Snyder’s lack of leadership in recruitment and retention of nursing staff has led to a severe and dangerous staffing crisis wherein nurses are forced to work above the state mandated staffing ratios which are in place to ensure safe patient care. At least 151 nurses have left County service from February to December 1, 2020, costing the County around $4.3 million in retraining costs. Ms. Snyder has also had to spend additional untold millions on temporary travel nurses to fill empty nursing positions.
4. Ms. Snyder’s complacency in the County’s anti-union, anti-employee campaign against nurses has resulted in the most protracted and contentious contract negotiations San Joaquin County has seen. This has cost the County taxpayer upwards to $8 million for replacement workers.
Ms. Snyder has been completely non-responsive to any and all concerns brought forward by nurses throughout this pandemic. Ms. Snyder’s actions jeopardize the health and welfare of the community and undermines the security the County health system. Therefore, we hereby demand the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors immediately terminate CNO Snyder.