APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY _________________________ CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION NO. _______________ C.M.S. INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER KALB AND COUNCILMEMBER FIFE RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF HIGH QUALITY, EQUITABLE HEALTH CARE SERVICES AT UCSF CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OAKLAND WHEREAS, founded in 1912,i Children’s Hospital Oakland has served generations of East Bay children well regardless of background, race, specific medical condition, or ability to pay; and WHEREAS, the vast majority of Children's Hospital Oakland patients come from Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, and San Joaquin Counties and the patient population at Children's Hospital Oakland reflects the demographics of the East Bay, including many immigrants and children from families of color; andii WHEREAS, the 2014 Affiliation of Children’s Hospital Oakland and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute with University of California San Francisco (UCSF) was touted as a collaboration of equals—a public-private partnership strengthening both hospitals, with Children’s Hospital Oakland retaining its identity and benefiting from additional financial resourcesiii; and WHEREAS, in recent years, the Affiliation has been seen as a “double-edged sword” with many Children’s Hospital Oakland caregivers seeing the implementation of said affiliation creating a weakened role of Children’s Hospital Oakland as both a safety net hospital and as a tertiary care pediatric center for the some of the neediest children in East Bay communities; and WHEREAS, as critical services have been adjusted, many of Children’s Hospital Oakland’s patients have been forced to travel to San Francisco for services that had been provided in Oakland for decades; and WHEREAS, inpatient and surgical volumes at UCSF Oakland have gone down since the affiliation, while UCSF Children’s Hospital in San Francisco has increased significantly;iv and Approved as to Form and Legality
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City Attorney’s Office
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. _______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER KALB AND COUNCILMEMBER FIFE
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY BILL 1487
THAT WOULD ESTABLISH THE HOMELESS PREVENTION FUND UNDER
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES TRUST FUND
COMMISSION TO FUND PRESCRIBED LEGAL SERVICES, EDUCATION,
AND OUTREACH FOR TENANTS RELATING TO EVICTION OR
DISPLACEMENT
WHEREAS, evictions and displacement are a major factor contributing to California’s homelessness crisis; and
WHEREAS, data has shown that evictions are not only caused by economic hardships, but are themselves a root cause of poverty and homelessness. Securing housing is often much more difficult following an eviction. Nearly 50% of homeless adults list evictions or rent-related issues as a contributor to their homelessness; and
WHEREAS, representation in the judicial eviction process is extremely unbalanced.
Ninety percent of landlords nationwide benefit from legal representation while only 10 percent of tenants are able to secure a lawyer; and
WHEREAS, in California, the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act has funded legal services and representation for low-income parties and such services has drastically improved outcomes and demonstrated economic benefits; and
WHEREAS, a study of a proposed Right to Counsel program in the City of Los Angeles found that for every $1 invested, the program would generate returns of approximately $3.48 to the City of Los Angeles and $4.80 to the County of Los Angeles primarily by avoiding the public costs related to shelter and housing programs, school funding, health care and foster care; and
WHEREAS, an evaluation of the City of San Francisco’s Right to Counsel program found that 67% of tenants who received representation though that program were able to stay in their homes, including 80% of African American tenants; and
2 WHEREAS, critical services and health care service providers in Oakland, including complex cardiovascular surgery, adolescent medicine, behavior and development specialists, pulmonologists, pediatric surgeons, MRI capability, neuro-oncologists, have been neglected or cut after UCSF took over the leadership and control of Children’s Hospital Oaklandv; and WHEREAS, costs to patients and families have skyrocketed, with devastating economic impacts often exacerbated by the loss of household income during the recent pandemic;vi and WHEREAS, since the affiliation, nurses, health care technicians, nurse practitioners, and physicians have strived to address these increasing healthcare disparities and costs, and have attempted to engage the UCSF leadership as partners with limited and inadequate success; and WHEREAS, some experienced and beloved nurses, doctors, and health care workers have chosen to leave UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland for a better working situation at other Bay Area medical facilities; and WHEREAS, one UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland physician said, “I think they’ve come in in a heavy-handed way, removed our autonomy, and tried to fundamentally change the way we treat children.”vii WHEREAS, the lack of success by UCSF management to fill vacant positions has exacerbated short staffingviii and called into question the remaining staff's ability to provide high quality care consistent with the Children’s Hospital Oakland’s long-standing reputation as one of the premier children’s hospitals in the country; and WHEREAS, it is vitally important that any changes to operations that could result in degrading the purpose and obligations of our full-service safety net children’s hospital in the East Bay be avoided and only contemplated as a last resort after meaningful input from the community, policy makers, and hospital employees; and WHEREAS, the transfer of financial resources from Children’s Hospital Oakland to UCSF in San Francisco can lead to racial inequity for East Bay families, where people with less access to resources also get more limited access to quality health care; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Oakland City Council respectfully urges UCSF Health, the UC Office of the President, and the UC Board of Regents to restore comprehensive high quality, tertiary care for all children at Children's Hospital Oakland locations; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council strongly encourages UCSF to create a Board and Executive Leadership Group for Children’s Hospital Oakland that is transparent and accountable to our diverse East Bay community and includes health care professionals/workers employed at UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland; and be it 3 FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council requests and urges UCSF to create a health care system committed to correcting the inequities between San Francisco and Oakland—as well as the other East Bay and Central Valley communities where the overwhelming majority of Children Hospital’s patient population lives; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council invites UCSF to re-commit to respecting the views of and retaining nurses, doctors, and other health care workers who have dedicated their careers to care to serving children and families in our East Bay community. IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: AYES - FIFE, GALLO, KALB, KAPLAN, REID, TAYLOR, THAO AND PRESIDENT FORTUNATO BAS NOES – ABSENT – ABSTENTION – ATTEST: ASHA REED City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the City of Oakland, California 3137913v1/LL i UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Fact Sheet: https://www.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/fields/field_insert_file/BCH%20Oakland%20Fact%20Sheet_0.pdf ii 2020 UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Charity Care Report states majority of patients come from Alameda. file:///C:/Users/CBrown/Downloads/UCSF_BCH_OAKLAND_CBR2020.pdf; comments by COO Jamie Phillips at Councilmember Kalb’s 3-10-21 town hall iii https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/19/childrens-hospital-oakland-finds-safe-harbor-under-uc-san-francisco/ iv UCSF through its spokesperson denies this but fails to provide data to disprove observations of doctors and other staff; https://oaklandside.org/2021/12/03/patients-workers-maintain-childrens-hospital-oakland-still-suffers-under-ucsf/ v Info from CHO doctors vi https://oaklandside.org/2021/02/25/childrens-hospital-oakland-joined-ucsf-7-years-ago-was-it-a-good-move/; https://oaklandside.org/2021/12/03/patients-workers-maintain-childrens-hospital-oakland-still-suffers-under-ucsf/ vii https://oaklandside.org/2021/02/25/childrens-hospital-oakland-joined-ucsf-7-years-ago-was-it-a-good-move/ viii CNA