CA community hospital open for business, nurses protest

Barstow Community Hospital staff began relocating inpatients at 6 a.m., with transportation assistance provided over the next few hours by Desert Ambulance's advanced life support service. The new hospital was prompted by the enactment of Senate Bill 1953 in 1994 following the Northridge earthquake, which required the city to either retrofit the existing 50-year-old hospital or build a new one to meet the standards by 2030. Registered nurses from the hospital held a candlelight vigil to highlight their concerns with what they've called "management's misplaced priorities" that placed the construction of a new facility with 15,000 additional square feet before ways to recruit and retain experienced nurses, according to a statement from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.