HOSPITAL DATA TO BE REVEALED CAMPAIGN FOR AVH WORKERS' UNION AIRED IN PUBLIC FORUM.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Hospital employees routinely struggle with staff shortages, broken equipment and inadequate supplies, according to a report by a union trying to organize workers.

Taking the unionization battle to the public, representatives of Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West plan to release the report at a forum scheduled for tonight.

``It's been a three-year effort, and workers have tried to approach the hospital with their concerns with no results,'' union spokeswoman Blanca Gallegos said. ``We decided to ... bring these issues to the community because it really does impact the patients who go there for care.''

The hospital board twice this summer refused to recognize the SEIU to represent support-services workers, such as licensed vocational nurses, clerical staffers and food service workers.

The matter is pending a review by the full board of the state Public Employee Relations Board.

The report, prepared over several months by the union's research staff, points to shortcomings found by state and federal regulators and an accreditation organization, some of which has been made public previously.

Hospital spokeswoman Jackie Weder said the hospital is sufficiently staffed and couldn't comment specifically on the report's other conclusions, saying she had not seen the report.

The hearing is set for 6 to 7:30 tonight at the Antelope Valley Allied Arts Center, 44857 Cedar Ave. Serving as moderator is Darren Parker, member of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force.

Organizers said hospital workers will give firsthand testimony about ``how patient care is being jeopardized.''

The union report noted that the hospital initially received a ``conditional accreditation'' when surveyed in May 2004 by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

That means the hospital was found to be out of compliance with 13 standards, including staffing levels, safely dispensing medications, employees' qualifications and protecting patients against hospital-acquired infections.

The hospital received an upgraded accredited status in March after coming into compliance on the different areas, JCAHO officials said.

The union report also cited a federal survey that showed that Antelope Valley Hospital and Lancaster Community Hospital did not always provide recommended treatments for common ailments among the elderly.

The survey, done by Medicare, looked at three common but deadly diseases that afflict the elderly - heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia - and rated hospitals on how they did in providing what the federal government says are generally agreed upon as the best treatments.

Patients who were elderly or had a chronic illness such as emphysema or heart disease, for example, should have been given a pneumonia vaccine to protect them against future bouts with bacterial pneumonia.

Only 4 percent of 117 applicable patients surveyed in early 2004 at Antelope Valley Hospital were given the vaccine, while 32 percent of 44 patents got it at Lancaster Community.

The union report said state health officials found Antelope Valley Hospital to have severe staff shortages and failed to produce documentation showing it had administered prescribed medication to patients.

``In its last comprehensive inspection of AVH, the DHS identified 15 deficiencies, including three instances of direct violations of safe staffing levels as well as failure to administer the correct medication or any medication at all,'' the union report said.

State inspectors also documented other violations involving the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which lacked equipment, staff and treatment areas required by state law for the care of a hospital's sickest infants, the union report said.