Sale of Regional Medical Center in East Side San Jose hits roadblock

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- A major sale to save pivotal medical services in East Side San Jose is in jeopardy. The County of Santa Clara was set to purchase the only hospital there with a Level 2 trauma center.

However, that deal is now in jeopardy of falling through as one of the unions who represents nurses at Regional Medical Center rejected to sign a contract. The deadline for that contract was Nov. 8.

Regional Medical Center needs the California Nurses Association to sign a contract waiving their representation to nurses who work at the hospital. Those nurses would then join a union representing county hospital workers.

Without the California Nurses Association’s signature, the sale cannot go through.

The hospital, which serves many low income and immigrant families in San Jose, tells KRON4 it is working on other ways to get the hospital into county leadership.

“My parents come here. My whole family comes here,” said Phuong Holland, an intensive care unit nurse at Regional Medical Center. “This is a huge resource; a lot of people are low income. It’s a big deal. Without this hospital, I don’t know what will happen to everyone.”