By Brian Rokos
The Press-Enterprise
HEMET, Calif. — Employees of Hemet Global Medical Center said Monday, March 3, that two doctors in the emergency room have passed out and other workers have felt faint and suffered headaches from a mysterious odor that they say hospital management has not done enough to detect and eliminate.
No one in hospital management was available to comment in person Monday but might comment later, a security guard said. Reached by telephone, an operator said “I’m not hired to take messages” while another said management would not be commenting at all. Another operator transferred a reporter to the voicemail for an administrator’s executive assistant, but it was too full to leave a message.
Messages to hospital officials were also sent by email and on social media.
Hemet Fire Chief Eddie Sell said firefighters have responded recently at least twice to the hospital on Devonshire Avenue and tested for carbon monoxide and other gasses but did not detect any. The most recent response was on Feb. 28 . No hospital employees have asked to be treated by paramedics, Sell said.
Workers who are officials in the Service Employees International Union local that represents employees at the hospital held a news conference to air their concerns, which include a lack of security and broken equipment. Their contract expires in October.
“This hospital is endangering my coworkers and patients,” said Brenda Lee Ozuna, an emergency room registration clerk.
Ozuna said she has asked Cal/ OSHA, which investigates workplace injuries, to look into the odors but that those officials have not inspected the hospital. A Cal/ OSHA spokesman said Monday that he was looking into an inquiry from the Southern California News Group.
Ferdinand Silerio, a union representative, said he believes there is mold in the hospital but acknowledged that its presence has not been confirmed. There also was a report of a sewage spill.
“I would agree that some of it is rumor,” Silerio said.
Silerio said patients had been removed from the intensive care unit because of odors and mold.
Jessica Meinert, an emergency room tech, estimated that 50 employees have felt ill at some point.
“A lot of our nurses started to feel dizzy and faint (last week). We chalked it up to the heat,” Meinert said, until the illnesses continued even after the weather cooled.
Meinert said management needs to look harder to find the source of the problem. So far, she said, officials have suggested employees go outside for fresh air if they feel faint. They also have declined to treat employees for their symptoms, Meinert said, because they denied there were problems with the air.
“What is it going to take to care about your staff?” she said. “Find the reasons.”
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