Montebello Firefighters Join Beverly Nurses Fight for Quality Care

February 2012

This morning four Montebello Firefighters, led by Craig Barker, President of the Montebello Firefighters’ Association, stopped by Beverly Hospital to meet with CEO Gary Kiff. Montebello’s first responders have been closely watching the Nurses’ negotiations with the hospital because they bring patients to the ER on a daily basis. The firefighters join the growing list of community leaders calling on the Beverly Hospital administration and Board of Directors to settle a contract with the Nurses and invest in patient care.

“As first responders in Montebello,” Barker said, “we have the honor of caring for the Montebello community. In an emergency, Montebello residents’ first stop is Beverly Hospital and the first voice they hear when they arrive at the ER is from a Beverly Nurse. I’m very concerned with the Nurses’ turnover due to working conditions and lack of investment in the hospital. The Beverly Hospital Administration must do everything possible to provide job security to retain their great nurses.”

“ Beverly Hospital is an important part of the EMS system for the community and the people,” Barker wrote in a letter the firefigthers delivered to CEO Kiff. “As an EMS provider to the community of Montebello, Beverly is our Most Accessible Receiving hospital as well as a STEMI Center. With equipment and structural failure as well as poor working conditions, this is a problem for the hospital, its staff and community.”

See letter from Montebello Firefighters' Association to Hospital CEO