Desert Regional nurses rally ahead of revised lease proposal vote

The Desert Healthcare District will review a revised lease proposal for Desert Regional Medical Center. 

Tenet Healthcare is proposing to provide the following additions to the prior proposal from September 2023:

• Provides $650 million over 30 years to the Desert Healthcare District.
• Increases the upfront payment by Tenet from $75 million to $100 million, and provides an accelerated payment schedule, so that the District receives the majority of payments during the first 19 years of the term.
• Specifically commits to renovation and expansion of the Emergency Department and Admitting areas at JFK Memorial Hospital at an estimated cost of approximately $60 million.
• Ensures that any future modification of Desert Regional Medical Center would be designed to accommodate the current capacity.

 Desert Healthcare District board is expected to vote on the proposal at their board meeting on Tuesday, says the California Nurses Association (CNA) today.  

This comes after the board and its advisors incorporated input from community meetings that were held throughout March and April. 

Nurses from Desert Regional and other Tenet hospitals held a rally in opposition to the proposed sale. Some nurses feel that the conditions at Tenet hospitals are troubling. 

Cyd Greenhorn, a registered nurse at Desert Regional, says “We see how our units are chronically understaffed, forcing patients to wait for care as we run from patient to patient trying our best to provide the highest quality of care. But we know there are things that we are missing, there are times when we know our patients need more from us but we are unable to provide it because we simply have too many patients to care for and not enough nurses. We are calling on the district to maintain Desert Regional as a public asset and to create an oversight mechanism that would allow the board to demand Tenet, or any future lessee, remedy safety violations when they arise in the hospital.”

The rally started at around 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday at The UC Riverside Palm Desert Campus. 

Stay with News Channel 3 for all developments.