United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7600 hosted a socially-distanced candlelight vigil last Tuesday, May 18, at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center in Fontana, Calif., to honor the sacrifices health care workers have made throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To see death throughout your shift is intense,” said Angela Richard, a mobility technician in Fontana, Calif. “This has impacted our minds, bodies, and spirits.”
Other unions who are members of the Alliance of Health Care Unions have also planned vigils throughout the coming weeks as part of a greater collective action.
“Health care workers have been hit from both sides in having to care for patients but also experiencing illness themselves or within their families,” said LaFonda Morales, a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) in San Bernardino, Calif.