Community

The new owners of Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy gave staff a 3 percent raise when they took over in December, but workers and their union are unhappy with the pace of promised improvements and afraid of painful layoffs.“We have been notified of Verity’s intentions to cut positions at Saint Louise Regional Hospital and other facilities and we are very disappointed,” said Sean Wherley, media relations representative for the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.“We intend to hold them accountable to our contract language that says they must make every effort to avoid layoffs, and follow the conditions laid out by the attorney general requiring that they maintain services,” Wherley wrote in an April 5 email.Verity Health Systems was formed to run SLRH and five other health facilities when Attorney General Kamala Harris last December approved the takeover of the financially strapped Daughters of Charity Health System by BlueMountain Capital Management.The SEIU-UHW represents 1,900 non-nursing employees in the Verity system.On Tuesday, a Saint Louise employee said staffing levels at South County’s only hospital are so depleted that employees cannot take vacations, broken equipment as basic as elevators and doors go unfixed and even operating room supplies are not reliable.“We were going downhill with Daughters. Verity said they would put money in the system and we looked to them as our saviors and they have done absolutely nothing,” said the employee, who asked not to be named.She acknowledged that it might all be due to how long it takes to effect improvements in a hospital system that had been going downhill for years before the takeover.But even that does not change the fact that Robert Minkin, the hospital’s new interim chief executive officer, told the staff at a forum that 27 layoffs could be expected, she said.In a statement released last week, Minkin acknowledged the layoff process had begun. “While we continue to employ substantially all of our employees . . . we are implementing a reduction-in-force across the system to reduce labor costs immediately. Notices began last month, and implementation will likely occur over a period of weeks or months, depending on the collective bargaining process.“At Saint Louise, negotiations with SEIU regarding the planned reduction in force have been very productive even though the topic is difficult,” Minkin’s statement continued. “The relationship between management and union representatives is growing closer through the process as we work together to minimize the impact on employees.”A source close to Verity management who asked not to be named said that fewer than 27 SLRH employees will be laid off.In a just-published report about its first 100 days as the hospital group’s operational management, Verity chief executive officer Mitchell R. Creem warned that change will not come quickly, but said it is happening.“Since Verity Health System came into being just three months ago, we have begun a process of transformational change—change that is needed to ensure the Verity Health System hospitals and physicians are able to treat patients for generations to come with high quality, compassionate care,” he wrote.In addition to SLRH, which includes De Paul Medical Center in Morgan Hill, the five other DCHS facilities now under the Verity banner are Saint Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Saint Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach.Creem’s comments continued: “The task of turning around our hospitals to a state of sustainable financial success is going to take time and hard work. We aren’t there yet, but we are on our way.”The report cites achievements so far, including:• A 3 percent pay raise for staff, the first in several years.• Forums to introduce staff and physicians to leadership and invite feedback.• A three-year contract for all SEIU employees, including a 3 percent per year wage increase, maintained defined contribution plan for retirement, job security protections and a groundbreaking guarantee of full-time work for most employees.• Negotiating a new contract with the California Nurses Association.  For SLRH, the report also states the Emergency Department is fully staffed, plans for upgrades to it will be finished by the fall with funding from the Saint Louise Regional Hospital Foundation and the facility’s Medicare purchasing score improved from 8 percent to 61 percent.The report notes that under the agreement approved by the attorney general, more than $250 million will be invested in the six California hospitals and the medical foundation, “thus assuring the communities served by the hospitals an opportunity to continue to pursue their missions.”

The Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, in cooperation with American AgCredit, will be awarding Fall 2016 college scholarships and inviting high school seniors with interest in an agricultural major to pick up and submit applications at the Farm Bureau office (605 Tennant Avenue Suite H in Morgan Hill).

With Friday’s wet weather not expected to stick around too long, a fun-filled weekend awaits local residents with three community-centered events scheduled through Sunday.

A motorcade of about 75 participants, some riding Harley Davidsons and others in cars, passed through downtown Morgan Hill led by widower Mary Jo Cetani in honor of her late husband Rocci Cetani Jr.

The Irish are coming!

The local Relay for Life planning committee’s “Paint the Town Purple” campaign struck downtown Morgan Hill in the early afternoon April 14, as a growing group of organizers and team members left a purple haze of ribbons, flags, banners and posters up and down Monterey Road between Main and Dunne avenues.

The Rotary Club of Morgan Hill will host its 11th annual Dazzle fundraiser beginning at 5 p.m. May 27 at Clos LaChance Winery, located at 1 Hummingbird Lane in San Martin.

John Bisceglie, a director, producer and filmmaker, is searching for local youth ages 8 to 21 to appear in “Broadway Movie Musical,” an original production recreating Broadway’s greatest moments on film.

One Step Closer Therapeutic Riding recently received a $2,000 grant from the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill to purchase a portable round pen. The 60-foot diameter round pen will be used to teach horsemanship skills to U.S. military veterans, and to train and exercise program horses.

Before the early days of spring begin to quickly change to the scorching days of summer that will host the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open in San Martin, tournament organizers—along with one of the biggest names in the golf media world—invited a small group of guests to see up close the venue that will be crawling with thousands of spectators for an entire week.The U.S. Women’s Open will take place July 7-10 at CordeValle golf course. While this venue is no stranger to professional-level, star-studded competition (Tiger Woods played in the 2012 Frys.com Open there), the U.S. Golf Association’s annual women’s open is a special event, according to organizers.“For women’s golf, this is the pinnacle,” 2016 U.S. Women's Open Vice President and CordeValle Director of Sales and Marketing Jeff Holland said at the resort for the March 28 preview.CordeValle has been working with the USGA for about seven years to attract the U.S. Women’s Open, Holland said. “This is the biggest event the club has ever undertaken. A USGA championship is what we’ve been after.”Joining tournament officials for the March 28 preview of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open course was Mitch Juricich, founder and writer of the popular “Hooked On Golf” radio program, podcast and website.“We have a big major championship coming, right here in our own little backyard,” Juricich said.U.S. Women’s Open Creative Director Ian Long said an event like the one coming in July happens only “once in a generation” in a locale such as San Martin and South County. “Champions play here,” he said.The tournament officials gave a brief tour of CordeValle’s grounds and how they will accommodate the thousands of visitors expected to descend on the course in July. A key site is Clos La Chance Winery, where the outdoor patio and terrace—where the general public is invited when the tasting room is open or for outdoor concerts—overlooks CordeValle. “Upgraded ticket” holders will have access to a restaurant and bar on the winery grounds.Guests were also invited March 28 to play the exact 18-hole layout that the top USGA women will play in July. Measuring more than 6,800 yards, the length alone—combined with CordeValle’s deviously cunning and abundant placement of sand traps throughout the fairways and protecting the greens—is enough to challenge the best amateurs, be they men or women.The early spring greens at the San Martin course are as immaculately groomed as the rest of the course, and as consistent as one would expect at a championship caliber venue, even though they weren’t lightning fast. But CordeValle Caddie Quin Boulger said that will change by July 7.On March 28, Boulger said the greens were rating about a nine on the “stimpmeter” (a device that measures green speeds on golf courses). During the U.S. Women’s Open, which will take place in the middle of a likely dry summer, he expects that number to climb to 11 or 12—about the maximum recommended by the USGA.CordeValle hosted the Professional Golf Association’s Frys.com Open from 2010 to 2013, bringing such golf stars as Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and more to South County for the October event. In 2014, that tournament moved to Silverado Country Club in Napa.Organizers estimated that the Frys.com Open brought millions of dollars into the local economy, and they expect the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open to have a similar impact.Another event to help promote and celebrate the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open is coming up April 6-10, with “San Pedro Putt Putt” set to take over San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose. The six-hole pop-up golf course will be open for everyone to experience “the fun of golf in a family-friendly, easily accessible format at no cost,” reads a statement from organizers. Scorecards and equipment will be provided. Photo opportunities will be available.The putt putt event will be open 4 to 9 p.m. April 6-9, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. April 10.