Sharp Hospitals Brace for Nurses Strike
All seven of San Diego's Sharp Hospitals are gearing up for a nurses strike, set to begin on Monday. Hundreds of replacement nurses are now waiting in the wings. Sharp spokesman John Cihomsky says ambulances will be redirected to non-Sharp hospitals throughout the county.
Cihomsky: If there's an ambulance with a critical patient, we'll ask them to go to another facility. And ultimately, if there's no room in other facilities, they will come back to us, and we'll take care of the patient. So if you have a kid with a broken arm, and he needs to go to the emergency room, that will still happen.
Cihomsky says patients with life-threatening injuries will always be taken to the closest hospital. Some 1,000 nurses are expected to walk off the job on Monday.