U.S. Rep Katie Porter Attends Roundtable Kicking Off N’tl Health Care Center Week
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 9 2023
Contact: Cabot Petoia, clpetoia@gmail.com, 828-899-9239
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Los Angeles – On Saturday, St. John’s Community Health hosted a roundtable alongside SEIU and U.S. Representative Katie Porter, focusing on the urgent need for all organizations in the health care sector to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour. Photos of Representative Porter’s visit can be viewed here.
The event kicked off National Health Care Center Week, which takes place Aug 6-12 to celebrate and increase awareness of the 1,400 Community Health Centers in the U.S.
In March of this year, St. John’s raised the minimum wage for all staff members to $25 an hour, and SEIU-UHW secured the same for hospital workers at private hospitals in cities throughout Los Angeles County. As a result of higher wages for their workers, St. John’s is able to retain critical frontline staff to ensure continuity of care and stable care teams.
At Saturday’s roundtable, Representative Porter underscored the significance of fair wages in fostering high-quality healthcare services from a governmental perspective; leaders from SEIU reflected on how critical it is for healthcare workers to have the power of collective bargaining; leaders from St. John’s spoke about how respecting and protecting both workers and patients includes paying staff a living wage; and clinic workers from throughout Southern California whose employers underpay them spoke about how a $25 minimum wage would change their livelihoods.
“We are still recovering from the chaos of the early pandemic days – the healthcare industry has lost many workers to COVID-19, burnout, or wages too low to make staying in the industry worth it,” said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health. “If we are to serve the public in the way we’re meant to, healthcare employers must recognize how vital frontline workers are, and pay them accordingly. All healthcare workers need and deserve a minimum wage of $25 per hour.”