S. California

CIR Leaders Speak Out in the LA Times, NY Times

CIR leaders on both coasts had letters published in major newspapers recently, addressing issues that affect resident physicians across the country.

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Harbor-UCLA Residents Head Off Parking Disaster

This spring, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles started construction on a new Emergency Room. The plans for development, however, would have eliminated 250 of the already-scarce parking spaces across from the campus. Although the County planned to begin construction of a new $10 million parking structure at the same time as it began building the ER in May, the county had made no interim parking plans for staff. It was looking like the best option for resident physicians was to park at a K-Mart shopping center one mile away from the hospital.

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Glendale Health Center: SAVED!

On April 22, 2010, Dr. Jose Luis Hernandez, a CIR delegate from LAC+USC, delivered a moving speech before a crowd of 80, including Glendale Mayor Frank Quintero, community allies, patients and clinic staff outside the Glendale Health Center, at a rally against the proposed privatization of the clinic.  L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich announced in early May that the proposal to privatize the clinic had finally been taken off the table.

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Kern County Supervisor Sees the Realities of Residency

On March 17, 2010, Kern County Supervisor Jon McQuiston visited Kern Medical Center to get a more complete view of the day-to-day work of the resident physicians at the Bakersfield hospital.

The residents at Kern Medical Center got union recognition on January 12, 2010 and have started the process of bargaining their first contract. Supervisor McQuiston had expressed interest in seeing firsthand what the conditions are like in the hospital, so CIR held him to his word and invited him to shadow a resident.

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California CIR Members Leading the Way on Resident Work Hour Redesign

Throughout the state, CIR members are engaged in discussions and, in some cases, pilot programs to determine the best ways to implement the recommendations outlined in the 2008 Institute of Medicine report, Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision and Safety. The ACGME is expected to release new guidelines later this year, and CIR has been weighing in on the best ways to protect doctors and patients on the job.

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Kern County Residents Win Recognition; Riverside County Residents Keep the Pressure On

In Riverside and Kern Counties in California, resident physicians took important steps in 2009 to have a stronger voice in their hospitals by organizing to become new chapters of CIR.

Resident leaders at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, CA reached out to CIR in the fall of 2009. Within nine days, a full 70 percent of the approximately 115 residents had signed cards stating that they wanted to be recognized as CIR.

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CIR Contracts Stay Strong in Tough Times

The economic downturn dominates the headlines and is a source of concern across the country. But for safety-net hospitals, including most hospitals staffed by CIR resident physicians, the bad economy brings twice the trouble. More people are losing their health insurance when they lose their jobs and relying on public programs like Medicaid or joining the ranks of the uninsured. This means more people depending on our hospitals. At the same time, tax revenue is down at the state, county, and city level, causing governments to cut their budgets for health care precisely at the time when more people are using these services.

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Preparing for “the Business Side of Medicine” After Residency

The devil is in the details when it comes to negotiating an employment contract, planning for one’s financial future, and managing debt. That was the main takeaway for CIR members who attended post-residency life workshops in November.

Throughout the month, CIR hosted Post Residency Life Workshops at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida, Harbor-UCLA and LAC + USC Medical Centers in Los Angeles, and Highland Hospital and Children’s Hospital in Oakland. Residents heard from experts like attorneys Mark Richard and Henry Fenton, and financial specialist and CPA Mitch Freedman, who highlighted what to watch for in navigating the business side of a medical career.

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California Assembly Bill 1083 on Hospital Safety Is Signed into Law!

On April 15, 2009, CIR leaders Sam Kalioundji (Internal Medicine, LAC+USC), and Medell Briggs Malonson (Emergency Medicine, Harbor-UCLA) went to Sacramento to lobby the Assembly Health Committee to support AB 1083. On October 11, 2009, that bill became law.

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CIR Contract Ratified for 2009-2011!

Around midnight on September 29, 2009, the residents of CIR’s bargaining team came to a tentative agreement with the County of Los Angeles on their 2009-2011 union contract.CIR leaders bargained for seven sessions over key issues like health insurance, maternity leave, and preserving the salary and bonuses in the 2006-2009 contract.

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Western Regional CIR Leaders Bridge the Health Care Reform Gap

On Saturday, August 29, 2009, about 50 CIR members from New Mexico, Los Angeles and Northern California came together in Oakland to receive advanced training in organizing and bargaining, share experiences from chapters around the region, and strategize about how to win health care reform this year.

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CIR Bargaining Team Makes Initial Proposals on New Contract

On Wednesday, August 12th, over 30 CIR interns, residents, and fellows from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and LAC+USC Medical Center came together to present their opening union contract proposals. Resident leaders presented articles on some pressing issues members face – from ensuring health coverage on day 1 of employment at a County facility, to maternity/paternity leave, to needlestick safety and procedure.

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Residents Lobby Statehouse to Help Prevent Violence in Hospitals

On April 15, 2009, CIR leaders Dr. Sam Kalioundji (Internal Medicine, LAC+USC) and Dr. Medell Briggs-Malonson (Emergency Medicine, Harbor-UCLA), went to Sacramento to lobby the Health Committee of the State Assembly to support legislation addressing workplace violence and safety in hospitals.

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CIR Residents Learn About Life After Residency

You survived residency, and now you suddenly have to figure out the next steps. How do you negotiate a contract? How can you manage your debt? Is it a good time to buy a home?

Residents from UCLA-Harbor and Los Angeles County Hospital + USC Medical Center got answers to these questions and more at the first ever Post-Residency Life Workshop in downtown LA at Mercado La Paloma.

The workshop covered three main topics: Negotiating a Contract, Estate Planning, and Financial Planning, with top experts in each topic presenting detailed information and real-life examples.

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Preparing for the Year to Come in New Mexico

New Mexico, dubbed “The Land of Enchantment,” was the backdrop for CIR’s Western Regional Meeting on November 8, 2008. CIR doctors from the Northern California, Southern California and New Mexico regions gathered at the Albuqeruque Hotel in Albuqerque for a full-day’s worth of activities, incorporating workshops, presentations, training, planning for the year ahead and, of course, networking and socializing with their fellow members.

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CIR’s Western Members Are Going Green!

CIR’s environmentally-conscious physicians in our Wesern region are “going green” to create a healthier, more sustainable environment.

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LA County Resident Physicians Fight for the Safe Staffing of Social Workers

On July 28, 2008, CIR Psychiatry Department Representative Dr. R. Scott Bailey and a team of SEIU Local 721 social workers at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center met with hospital management and the Department of Health Services to express their grave concern over the gross lack of social workers at the hospital.

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CIR Residents at LA County Hospitals Stand in Solidarity with SEIU 721 Nurses

 “Resident physicians have their strength not only through CIR/SEIU leadership, but also through solidarity with other LA County hospital workers and our sister union, SEIU 721,” said Dr. Antonio Beltran of LAC + USC Hospital, a CIR delegate, explaining why he and other CIR members are supporting SEIU 721 nurses.

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Charting the Year Ahead

On November 3rd, 2007, the three chapters that make up CIR’s Western Region -- New Mexico, Southern, and Northern California -- came together to meet, share news, and make plans for how to accomplish their goals in the year ahead. 

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CIR Doc Helps Find a Pollution Solution in LA Ports

The Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports and CIR delegate Dr. Shipra Bansal, MD, a Family Medicine resident at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, unites truckers, environmentalists, labor unions, religious leaders, community groups, and public health advocates seeking ways to reduce port pollution.

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United and Strong in California!

On October 14, 2006, CIR’s six chapters in California gathered for their annual statewide meeting. The theme was “United Together,” and residents from the Golden State pledged a united effort to support critical health care ballot initiatives in the November election, and to continue their ongoing struggle to improve conditions and patient care within the state’s hospitals. 

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Los Angeles Contract Wins On Salary and Working Conditions

CIR members in Los Angeles know a good contract when they see it – and on October 27, 2006 they overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new 3-year deal with impressive economics and working condition gains that address everything from text pagers to a lack of food on offsite rotations.

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