Union nurses at Anaheim hospital raise safety concerns amid contract talks

The day before key negotiations, dozens of registered nurses at Anaheim Regional Medical Center held an information picket on Wednesday to draw the public’s attention to safety issues at the hospital.

Mara Flicker, a labor and delivery nurse, walked with fellow nurses represented by SEIU Local 121RN during the action.

She stressed that safety is a top priority for nurses — and is a sticking point in trying to win the union’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement with the hospital.

“We’re trying to get metal detectors or, at least, wands at our doors,” Flicker said. “My coworkers have collected guns and other weapons. They have to check their patients. It’s not safe.”

Anaheim Regional Medical Center, which is one of 10 hospitals owned by AHMC Healthcare, is situated next to a neighborhood claimed by a street gang.

Registered nurses picketed outside of Anaheim Regional Medical Center on Wednesday morning.

(James Carbone)

Safety was a critical workplace issue that led registered nurses to vote overwhelmingly in favor of joining the union in August.

Flicker, who has worked at the hospital for about four years, attended negotiations the day after the demonstration and said that management is solely considering security wands at the emergency room, but not at other entrances.

“It makes no sense,” she said.

A spokesperson for AHMC Healthcare did not respond to a request for comment made by TimesOC.

As of March 2027, hospitals will be required to have weapons detection screening policies as part of Assembly Bill 2975’s updates to the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board.

Flicker and other registered nurses don’t want to wait that long.

“We need safety, now,” she said.

The union is also raising concerns about what it says are inadequate staffing levels at the hospital.

“We know patients are not being watched the way they should be,” Flicker said. “Patient care does go down. That’s our No. 1 concern.”

A picketer holds a sign calling for staff retention and patient protections.

(James Carbone)

In addition to safety and staffing, the union also claims the hospital is plagued by critical equipment failure and general disrepair.

“We’ve had nurses getting shocked by electrical outlets and we’ve had people getting stuck in elevators,” Roxanne McMahan, who works in the hospital’s medical-surgical and telemetry department, said in a news release. “It doesn’t appear that management is taking these problems seriously.”

Flicker claimed that an MRI machine has been down for a month, which has led to patients being transferred to AHMC Healthcare’s other locations, like Whittier, to be scanned.

A Reddit thread from three weeks ago also claimed the hospital didn’t have running hot water, something Flicker attributed to a boiler going down.

In addition to increased security measures, the union has asked for upgrades to key hospital equipment as well as a pandemic task force to prepare for any future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

“It’s been a few months,” Flicker said of bargaining, which began in November. “Hopefully, we can get this done.”