May 2, 2018
The Emergency Room at Coalinga Regional Medical Center will close at 7:45 AM this morning (May 2, 2018).
There are several factors which reportedly have led to its immediate closure.
Nursing staff has been seriously depleted, and positions have been left unfilled. Registry agencies that h
ave supplied nursing staff have rescinded their contracts without notice due to the financial instability of CRMC. Nurses working for those registries were told to leave the facility before they finished their duties or shifts. The decision was made by the registries because of the facility’s upcoming closure and lack of assurance that invoices for the hours already worked.
In response to this, emergency room doctors have voiced concerns about working in an emergency room without fully competent, experienced RNs, and those who have experience with PALS and ACLS certifications.
Skilled nursing facility nursing staff (both RNs and LVNs) are not skilled in emergency care. In addition to this, they are also unable to vacate their positions at Ralph Neate skilled nursing facilities because there is also no one to take their places there.
There is simply not enough RN staffing available within the community to aid the two core RNs who are still with CRMC as regular staff employees.
Other temporary staff members are following the same systematic removal or withdrawal of services. Updates will come forth as changes become evident.
CEO Wayne C. Allen and CRMC staff will be notifying community members such as the City Council of Coalinga and Huron, closest hospitals (Adventist Health Hanford, Kaweah Delta Visalia, and Fresno Community Regional Center), Coalinga Police Department, EMS, and California Highway Patrol.
