Employees come to grips with Sutter layoffs

Journal Staff WriterSutter Auburn Faith Hospital is cutting its 540-member full-time staff by 38, and the implications are tough to deal with for those affected.While many Auburn Faith employees, such as Jodi Holt and Tim Hagerty, had work schedules cut and rearranged this week, Patty Gregory was given the choice of being either laid off or put on call.She chose to be on call.Gregory, a one-year employee on the medical floor, said she anticipated being one of the employees cut from the 2004-05 budget of the community hospital since rumors began circulating weeks ago about layoffs due to ongoing low patient totals.Hagerty, on the other hand, said the hospital administration told him not to lose sleep over the possibility of losing his job, but now he is worried about paying all his bills with $500 less each month.?I did get laid off, but they tried not to call it a layoff,? said Hagerty, who now works eight days per pay period instead of 10.A total of 24 positions were eliminated and those who held them were offered other jobs within the Sacramento-area Sutter Health facilities. Hagerty said they are not the same positions. He said those laid off could bump other employees working different shifts who had not worked at the facility as long, so the 24 layoffs affected numerous others.?They say they only eliminated one person (in my department) but it disrupted 10 families,? Hagerty said Friday.Mitch Hanna, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital chief administrator, said the layoffs were actually postponed 18 months to see if the average daily census of 53 patients would raise back to 1999?s average of 64.?If we were a ruthless, cutthroat employer, we probably would have made these cuts in early 2003 when the census dropped,? Hanna said. ?But we waited 18 months to see if it was really a steady decline.?Although Hanna said there are still 12 more full-time positions at Sutter Auburn now than in 1999, he doesn?t anticipate cutting back any more unless the census continues to drop. Hanna said the costly staff of traveling nurses was cut from 21 to 16 and would ultimately be a total of seven.?We?d much rather have our existing staff than use traveling nurses,? Hanna said.He said traveling nurses were recruited to meet the Jan. 1 state nurse-to-patient ratio requirements.Hagerty questioned the foothill hospital?s financial situation since its parent company, Sutter Health, reported a healthy revenue to the nonprofit agency last year. Dr. John Barnsdale, outgoing chief of staff, said each hospital must maintain its own fiscal solvency, but Hanna would not disclose how much Sutter Auburn would save with the cuts.Hanna said lower insurance options and lost general and specialized doctors are a few of the reasons Sutter Auburn is experiencing a low census. He plans to continue bringing updated technology to Auburn and recruiting doctors to help attract patients.Although many employees? lives were disrupted with the layoffs and schedule changes, Gregory said residents would still receive the kind of care they?ve become accustomed to at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital.?Patients will still get good care,? Gregory said. ?But we can?t have more employees than patients.?