Our Stories

" I've been working at Queen of the Valley for 9 years. I've dedicated my time and efforts to this hospital because I love my job.

I just bought a house and with the pay I get it's very hard for me to survive with the cost of living in the San Gabriel Valley area.

I know I'm not just saying this for myself. A lot of us who work hard at our Hospital still have to struggle to make ends meet.

That's why I'm uniting with my coworkers. If we all speak with one voice we can fight for the wages we deserve. We don't deserve any less than other healthcare workers."
--Doreen Arvizu, Unit Secretary,Mother Baby Care Unit, QVC
Read the full Flyer

"Last weekend, I was in Baltimore at a national conference of members in SEIU Healthcare, representing 1,000,000 healthcare workers in the US and Puerto Rico. Florida, New York, Texas, Missouri, Washington, you name it. They were working people just like me who are struggling to provide the best for their patients and their families.

Working in Med/Onc and Ortho/Surg at Citrus Valley, I deal with patients who are at the lowest points in their lives.

My patients depend on me, and it pains me to have to tell them,"Sorry I'm with another patient, I can't come right now," or "I'll be right there," knowing I'm looking for basic supplies like linens and blood pressure machines.

We do this work because it's our calling. But poor staffing levels, and faulty or absent equipment test our calling everyday. I don't like that our patients are losing faith in healthcare, and we don't currently have the means to restore that faith.

I know that by uniting with my coworkers we could have the power to improve CVMC, but I didn't know that we'd have the backing of so many other healthcare workers across the country.

This conference was truly eye-opening and only reinforced my commitment to forming our union to improve patient care." --April C. Chavez, LVN, Medical Oncology, ICC
Read the full flyer...

"After 25 years at Queen of the Valley I am ready to form our union. I work hard and want to be able to provide the cleanest and most comfortable space for our patients and their families to stay in. I try my best but it's difficult to do your best when we are short-staffed and paid low.

Sometimes I walk into work and find out that I have to clean more areas than my usual area. Before, we used to have one department now we all have more than one. We all deal with the constant changes for our patients.

I've tried to work together with my direct supervisors on fixing the problems but I know sometimes it's out of their hands. Sometimes they tell me they are going to fix the problems.

After 25 years I'm still waiting.
I am forming our union with SEIU UHW so that for the first time in 25 years I can walk into work with the guarantees of knowing exactly what I can expect
at work from myself, my co-workers, and my supervisors.

I know there aren't any guarantees from management now. Isn't it time that we ask for the guarantees we've all been waiting for?" ---Maria Luisa Montes, Environmental Services, Queen of the Valley, CVMC
Read the full flyer...