OC Mental Health Workers Ready For Statewide Strike Against Kaiser Permanente

Mental health workers are primed to picket outside Kaiser Permanente medical centers across California, including OC, starting Monday. The week-long strike calls out the healthcare nonprofit for raking billions in profits without staffing enough therapists for patients in need. Represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), psychologists, social workers and therapists want more workers so people don't have to be backlogged for weeks in order just to get help. "It's difficult to book return appointments," says marriage and family therapist Jonathan Trost. He's been with Kaiser since 1997 out of the SanTana office near Tustin and serves as union steward. "We end up feeling very stretched. It may be the least favorite moment of an appointment when we're saying 'Well, let's see when we can see you back again.'"

Read more on my latest OC Weekly Navel Gazing Blog post:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2015/01/kaiser_permanente_strike.php