Employees laid off at PVH, SRMH

<p>Employees are being laid off at Petaluma Valley Hospital this week due to multi-million dollar losses in government reimbursements and revenue.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Most employees who will be terminated were notified on Wednesday and others will be told on Friday. Some employees at PVH were asked to appear at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday to be notified that they will be laid off.</p><p>St. Joseph Health System of Sonoma County, which operates PVH, also will be laying off employees at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Sources told the Press Democrat that the combined layoffs at the two hospitals could be as high as 117, but Katy Hillenmeyer, spokeswoman for St. Joseph, said that this specific number was “inaccurate.”</p><p>Employees have been aware that layoffs were imminent ever since Kevin Klockenga, interim CEO and president of St. Joseph Health System of Sonoma County, wrote a memo to them on Jan. 23. </p><p>“As part of several steps we are taking to make up for the multi-million dollar declines in revenue and reimbursements, we do expect to announce some reductions in staff within a month. The final details as to which departments are affected and how many employees are affected are still being examined,” Klockenga wrote.</p><p>“We are conducting very thorough reviews of staffing levels in each department, and not all departments will be affected by reductions,” he added.</p><p>In a newsletter released the same day, St. Joseph administrators announced that “staff reductions, managing staffing through attrition and filling only critical positions are additional steps we are considering.”</p><p>PVH is facing many financial challenges, mainly due to the struggling economy and a projected $2.9 million loss from Medi-Cal cutbacks. St. Joseph, which operates PVH, recently re-negotiated contracts with Blue Shield and Health Net to increase medical reimbursement levels. </p><p>In November 2006, after PVH had piled up some $2 million in losses during the previous five months, four licensed vocational nurses were laid off at PVH. The following month, 10 certified nursing assistants and one technician in the intensive-care unit were terminated. All of these employees were given severance packages.</p><p>But the layoffs triggered a rally in front of PVH and instigated discussion about forming a union.</p><p>In February 2008, St. Joseph announced 212 layoffs at SRMH, but only 81 of the employees were terminated. The remaining 131 workers were reassigned during a reorganization of departments.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>