May 21, 2025 • 30 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Thoughts on a new report that reveals an active undersea volcano in California is on the verge of erupting…PLUS – The latest on the MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach RN Strike with Amy Wolk, BSN, RN, Certified Diabetes Care and Education - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's later with Mokeller.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We're live on YouTube, live on Instagram and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Speaking of YouTube, I open up the chat and Darryl Sexton,
who is a longtime listener and support of the show.
If you don't know, the YouTube section has their own
chat community, and he says, evening mo migos.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Is that what they're calling themselves now, the mo migos.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm forgetting to bring it up to you. We need
to get shirts done of that mo apostrophe migos. Ye,
so they're the momgos. That's the community on YouTube. Oh okay,
I'm glad that I know.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Told me it could be a lot worse. No, it
could have been much worse, especially if you had any input.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, I mean, knowing how much I respect you, I mean,
I wouldn't expect to find much. Is it closer to
little or a lot? It's really unqualifiable. Apparently I was
started by Eric Lisardo. Oh okay, what about that? If
it was the mofos. Oh, now we're talking there you go, mofos.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Maybe that ought to be a pole in the chat
there guardiagos, But the mofos yeah, you can't wear mofos everywhere.
I'm assuming that it's probably not welcome in certain environments.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Well, but don't wear anywhere church, dude, out of my head,
get out.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Don't worry.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
None of you go to church any house. It doesn't
matter for a bunch of heathens.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But speaking of hell being hot, did you get a
load of the weather today? I actually loved it, absolutely
loved it. Oh, thank you, Mark? Tell me what happened?
Are we getting to getting ready to go through a
heat spell? Well, it's a pretty brief one. I mean,
(02:09):
by the time Friday gets here, it's going to be
pretty much upper seventies all the way through Memorial Day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Are you working Memorial Day? By the way, yes, I'll
be here.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That makes all of us well, uh okay, And I
found I'm mistaken that the heat is so hot that
good old Mark is showing off his gams. Yeah, I'm
really flattered that you noticed. Foosh, do you do you
find me attractive?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And shorts? Yeah? They hold your leg up for the camera.
I think not no, no no no no no no
no no.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
No he proud of your chicken legs. No, there's no
need for that show. Some legs and show some leg,
show some leg I'm not here to perform for you, swine.
I'm just going to remain seated. There's no need for that.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
No, people have never seen you in shorts.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, you have the fan club. They don't need to
you have a huge fan club. They want to see
those sexy legs from the waist. I look completely professional,
and it was just super hot in North Hills when
I left today. It's just everywhere. This was not a
pants day. This was a If I owned a kilt,
it would be a kilt day. Him wearing shorts is
like me wearing pants as it never yet. I've never
(03:14):
seen you in pants, I know exactly, but I've seen
marking shorts. So it gets hot here. I'm very delicate
and sensitive when it comes to the heat. That's not true,
but okay, what sensitive about anything? Right, He's obviously accustomed
to the heat. But anyhow, Yes, I actually do like
the heat. Thank you for throwing out my government name.
(03:35):
I actually do like the heat. It doesn't have to
be hot hot, but I appreciate the general heat, if
only because I don't like the extreme of cold. If
it's hot out, I can turn on the air conditioner,
and I remember saying, and I'll remind you my first
car did not have air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It was a Nissan NX twenty nineteen ninety two. Because
I only made like nineteen thousand dollars a year at
the time, I was working for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,
so I leased a car and with the options, I
had the option of getting an automatic or manual transmission.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Manual save money, and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It used to be where you could get it with
or without air conditioning. Back then it was an option,
and I opted not for the air conditioning to save money.
And I had the option of power windows or rolling
crank up and down the windows.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Cheap asked me.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I went the non motorized windows, and it was bare
bones basics.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
That's how I tried to save money.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Now, twenty five thirty years later, I can't imagine getting
into a car without power windows and air conditioning.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You couldn't pay me. No, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
When I first moved to Seattle from the Midwest, and
I guess it would have been I don't know, the
mid to late nineties, nobody in Seattle had AC in
their cars, and they thought I was out of my mind.
But then because of this climate change which absolutely doesn't exist,
what you can't buy it car without air conditioning? Now
you cannot, and I don't want to buy a car
(05:04):
without air conditioning. Now I'm officially my father in that regard.
He said, how could you buy a car with no
air conditioning? I can't ride with you. It's like, that's okay,
it's my car. But now it's like, I'm not going
to get into someone's car without air conditioning. It was
it a six shift too, it was five speed. It
was a five speed. Wo My Honda S two thousand
was six feed. Yeah, that was six speed, but it
(05:25):
was just a five speed in the car I learned
on my father's nineteen eighty seventy six Honda Civic was
just a four speed. They were just starting to make
five speed transmission. Oh yeah, this is the first car
I've ever had owned that was not a manual transmission.
I prefer driving stick Even today, you just can't. Oh yeah,
(05:47):
there's just very few places to find it.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
You don't like the you don't like the cool hybrid,
just kind of just your No. I enjoy it, but
I like the process of driving a stick shift. I
like to be able to downshift. I like to have
the control of the car in the way that you
just don't with an automatic transmission.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You just accelerate and break. It's kind of boring.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I even on this car, I still have my right
hand on the shifter as if I'm going to shift,
that's where my hand has always been placed. Well, you
need that hand free for a drink. What do you
think you're Steve McQueen or something. No, well, it's not
like I'm texting and driving. It's got to put my
hand somewhere.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And also I'm left handed, so that makes it real
difficult to text and drive.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I never knew that about you. Well put it this way.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'm left hand dominant when it comes to things which
require skill. In other words, if I'm going to pick
up a glass, if I'm going to write something, it'll
be with my left hand.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What's your business hand for smacking somebody? Right hand?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Okay, My left hand is the brains. My right hand
is the brown. So if I'm trying to hurt you,
I'm going to use my right hand.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
If I'm trying to do something which requires finer detail,
I'll use my left hand. No, it's hard to explain.
I like, I'll eat with my left hand, I'll use
it left hand. For a fork, I use right hand,
and I guess I'll pick up a glass with either hand.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But sometime that's a little freakish. It is so weird.
I throw with my right hand. I bat.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I started left handed, but I can bat either way,
and I golf right handed. So you've squandered a career
in professional sports to do this pretty much.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Okay, what do you kick with?
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
With soccer, I guess my my strength leg would be
my right leg. So you're kind of like me because
I throw left, I bat right, I kick right. So yeah, yeah,
I can kick left because of all the years of
martial arts. But if I just want to wind up
and kick something, It'll probably be my right right.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, but you know, it's weird with my hand. It
could be either thing. I'm pretty balanced with my hands.
It's strange, you know, and part of it since none
of you guys are left handed. Growing up in the
nineteen seventy, oh you are left handed? Yeah, okay, well,
everybody's outing themselves tonight. I have all these secrets, but
(08:02):
growing up, especially in the nineteen seventies, that was discouraged
being left handed, and there weren't any quote unquote left
handed scissors or desks or.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, we got shunned. What is this? Teachers?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Teachers discourage me being left handed and tried to convert
me to being right handed with the shock therapy.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
No, no, no, just reach for something your left hand
and you get there.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Weren't any tools or things available for left handed if
we had the single person desk in a lot of
my schools, so they were made predominantly for right handers.
And so my hand, my left hand was coming from
the open side, nowhere to put my forearm to right.
And so if you know, if you're left handed, you're
kind of crooked your wrists. So everyone can see me on.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
YouTube, Yeah, I had a couple of nightmares before high
school because all I ever saw on TV was the
right handed desks, and I'm like, how am I gonna
How am I gonna survive?
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I don't know the world. Are you lefties living in
a world that does not want us?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I don't know if it's different now, but back then,
it was discouraged.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I mean it was it was discourged. I had it was.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I think it was Miss Thompson's first grade teacher who
actively said, have you considered writing?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
With the other hand, it's like, no, no, have you
considered not being a mutant? Look, I think it's my
mutant power actually, but look, you know all my teachers
are dead, so I can talk mess about them. I
think for what septional missus Pennington, I think she might
still be alive. You must be a raging cauldron of PSTD,
PTSD and resentment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember all my teachers and why
I didn't like them, and that's why that My mom
even was like, I'm surprised that, you know, because I
know how to drive a stick and she's like, I
thought it would be weird for you since you're backwards. Yes,
it is backwards, and if you put me in a
European car, I would be fine.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, I would be absolutely fine.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now the shift is obviously reversed, but you know it
wouldn't bother me.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I should have had.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You as my driver, and you can go with that
where you want to. But when I drove around Ireland
with the long Suffering Ones driving Miss Lazy, yeah, we
had to get we had to get used to driving
on that side of the car and that side of
the road, and we just cheated death. It was like
being in one of those crappy final destination movies. I'm
sure that death is coming from me because we had
(10:23):
some narrow escapes.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I have yet to drive on the other side of
the road, but I want to. I desperately want.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You were born to do it clearly eventually, But yeah,
I've always felt different. To answer your mutant question on
the intimation, it was an insult.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
No, oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Miss Parchment, my kindergarten teacher, she was very nice to me.
She gently, in a very subtle way, suggested you might
want to use the sisters because we doing arts and crafts,
you know, use mother Henferson.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I mean it's like it's like they're hiding communism or
something back in the day, like what is the summer?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
No, actually no, because there was a feeling that left
handers were different intellectually. And I wouldn't say it was
like you were you know, you were slow, as they
used to say back then.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
But yeah, like Mark's joking, but yeah, we were looked
at his mutants. Uh huh, there's like something wrong with us. Yeah,
being dead serious. Miss Thompson, may she rest in peace.
Don't like her, but yes, she tried to change me.
Miss Cochran second grade, she did. Miss Pennington third grade,
she was fine with it. I think mister Crumley fourth
grade gave up. And Miss Trevor the one who'd rap
your knuckles if you were not holding your pen or
(11:31):
pencil correctly the ruler.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yes, yes, I mean that's terrible.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That was when corporal punishment was on its way out,
but she was still doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
She was fine with it at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Well, we love the two of you with all your
humiliating flaws.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, go to hell. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
KFI. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
We're live on YouTube, live on Instagram and the iHeart
Read app, and we're hearing that it's going to be
called Motown in the YouTube chat. I'm not against that.
That's pretty cool, but we can't copyright it, I'm sure. Yeah,
and Mo Migos is in the lead. Mo Migos talking
in Motown And if you're just tuning in, just want
(12:19):
to let you know, we will be giving away Harry
Potter and the Curse Child tickets in the second hour,
and if you log onto the YouTube chat in the
next ten or fifteen minutes or so, we'll tell you
when exactly those tickets will be given away. You might
want to know that just in case you want a
chance to win one of the three pairs were giving away.
And I didn't know this to switch gears, Talla, I
(12:42):
didn't know this until you gave me this story. That
California has an active undersea volcano. Yes, didn't know that, Okay,
And at least it's not right next to La but still,
it's off the coast of California in the San Francisco area.
It's about seven hundred miles northwest of San Francisco, and
they call the volcano, you know, Axial Seamount, and it's
(13:03):
drawing increasing scrutiny from scientists who only discovered it its
existence in the nineteen eighties. Still, I hadn't heard about it,
and they think it might erupt on a.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Low level by the end of this calendar year.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And I'm thinking, if you told me California volcano, I'm thinking, like, Okay,
this is like the plot of sil movie with Tommy
Lee Jones or something.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
What am I looking at?
Speaker 7 (13:27):
That lake was sixty two degrees yesterday today it's like
to sixty eight day.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It is lovely, isn't it?
Speaker 7 (13:34):
Mister Rory takes a geological event to heat a million
gallons of water by six.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Degrees in twelve hours.
Speaker 7 (13:40):
What is a geological event?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I'm sure you're aware of this.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
That our continents sit on tectonic plates, great big rasps
floating over.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Notion in a molteno.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
Yeah, when they shift like they did this morning, we
get an earthquake. Okay, same mechanism can sometimes open a fissure.
Sometimes magma can find one of those fishes will rise
up through.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
That's magna lava lava here in La It's one of
several possibilities.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
It is unlikely, but it is a possibility.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
We have a history of that here in the downtown area.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Padigroutine nineteen forty three, Mexican pharmacy smoke coming out of the.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Middle of his cornfield.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Is weeks later, there's a volcano one thousand feet high.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
There's no history of anything.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Until it happens.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
There's no history of anything until it happens. Maybe it's
life imitating art. Maybe we'll have an eruption in Lava
Pori into San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I love that they tried to dismiss this. It's probably
gonna be nothing. It's a volcano just off the coast
of San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
No, if that happens, if.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
It just explodes Mount Vesuvius in the San Francisco Bay.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
They didn't know it was there until the nineteen eighties.
It probably predates the nineteen eighties. Scientists have been known
to be wrong about predicting the eruptions of volcanoes.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, they almost never get it right. Never.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Hey, Mark, I'm sorry because I know you're busy. Where
were you during Mount Saint Helen's.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I was in Washington State, across the state from it,
but it covered everything. It was like a snowfall everywhere.
What was the news lead up to it? From what
you remember? Were they semi accurate?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Were people somewhat concerned or did they try to dismiss it?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I was just a kid.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I mean there were the people like that Harry Truman,
guy I was, who refused to move out of his
cabin I think, and he quickly became the late Harry Truman. So, yeah,
the science deniers always have a great history of outcomes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
All I can say is, I didn't know about this
until today. They say that there's a possibility, or a
bolt possibility, that it could erupt before the end of
this Calenardy year. The scientists also say that it would
be a minor eruption. Well, yeah, it's minor until it's not.
You know, you can only forecast what is going to
be to a certain degree. They made not expect that,
(16:00):
but who knows. All I know is there is an
undersea volcano which is active just off the coast of California.
They say that if it erupts, it would not trigger
a tsunami.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Until it does, they're singing a whole lot.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
They're having a whole lot of predictions about what could
possibly happen that really, truly no one was asking for.
Why did they have to release this in the first place.
They could have just kept quiet about it. They're telling
us about it in small doses now so that when
it does get closer, they can say, hey, so remember
that underground under sea volcano or Tima. It's a little
(16:34):
more active, it's a little more ready to pop. You
all need to get out of California. There's no history
of anything until it happens. When we come back. I'll
be joined on the line by registered nurse Amy Wolke.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
She is a part of the striking nurses at Long
Beach Medical Center who they're going to go on strike tomorrow.
We're going to preview that and also see where the
negotiations are, if anywhere at all. In just a moment,
It's Later with mo Kelly. I Am six forty Live
everywhere on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app and Instagram.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
JFI. It's Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, and the iHeartRadio app. Let's
talk to registered nurse Amy Wolke, who is at Miller
Children and Women's Hospital in Long Beach as we talk
about the forthcoming strike, the one day strike which is
coming up on Thursday, May twenty second. Amy, how are
you this evening?
Speaker 5 (17:37):
I'm doing well. How are you, Mo?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I'm doing fine, And I want to add that you're
also on the bargaining team, so you will literally be
sitting at the table. This is presuming that management comes
to the table. I spoke to one of your colleagues
about a week or so ago, and at that point
management had not made any overtures if they were ready
to negotiate.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Has anything changed.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
No, nothing is changed, and if anything, it's just gotten.
I guess a lot more stressful in the hospital setting.
Not only am I on the bargaining team, but I'm
also one of the nurses that was laid off in
the outpatient specialty clinics that we call the village, the
(18:19):
children's village. So I'm wearing a couple of different hats
right now. I'm trying to support my nurses and I'm
also trying to support myself through this hard time.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
How many, I'm sorry jump in there, but how many
people were laid off in this most recent round of
medical staff being laid off?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
We had about seventy eight nurses laid off. Fifty five
nurses in the outpatient setting. In the specialty center where
we take care of kids with all kinds of special
needs chronic health conditions, forty seven out of sixty nine
of our nurses were laid out. Seventy percent of our nurses.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Would you have that much of a loss of staff.
How does that translate to patient care?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Where? Where does that impact you.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Personally? I think it's going to really impact patient care.
A lot of our nurses out in the outpatient center.
We had a meeting today and some of those nurses
have been nursing for thirty years, some of them twenty years.
And in the outpatient setting, a lot of us like
I'm one of the new beests and I've been there
eight years. So it's been a place where we have
(19:37):
brought our skill and our love for these kids to
keep them safe and to keep them healthy. And by
taking us out of the village, we feel that it
is not going to be a safe place for these
(19:59):
kids right now anyway.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
What are nurses at Long Beach Medical Center asking for
in this hopefully eventual negotiation.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
What are we asking for? We are asking for all
kinds of things. We're asking to address our concerns about staffing,
about workplace violence, and we and recruitment and retention. We
have situations where our nurses and some of our units,
(20:29):
like the NICK you that's the Neonatal intensive care unit,
the intensive care unit, and in the er, these nurses
all work twelve hour shifts but sometimes they don't get breaks,
and sometimes they're asked to work another four hours. Now,
think about that, trying to care for sick patients and
you're trying to do that over a sixteen hour period.
(20:50):
So we are really concerned for first of all, for
our nurses and their safety, but also for our patient safety.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Beyond the patient's safety.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I understand that management is going to be bringing in
other nurses for this one days strike to cover the
staff who will be striking.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
How does that play out? Is that even feasible.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
That they can take care of our patients correct? Well,
I'm sure that they will be able to take care
of them. Will they be able to do as good
of a job as we do? No, And we we
feel that, you know the hospital's response. You know, first
of all, we gave the strike notice, and we gave
it a day before our last bargaining day with the
(21:37):
hopes that they were going to come to the table
and give us a you know, some things that we
could actually look at, that we could talk about, because
we haven't felt like there's been a good conversation going
back and forth in terms of these proposals. So this
one days strike, we did that because we wanted to
(21:57):
take care of our patients, and you know, locking us
out for five days, it's a tremendous cost to the
medical center and to the community. You know, they signed
the contract to replace us for five days. That's millions
of dollars that they could have put back into the
hospital and put into you know, safety. You know, we're
(22:22):
we're asking we have we have issues with workplace violence,
and we've asked for you know, metal detectors or and
you know, they said, well, yeah, we'll get that for you.
But now they're saying, we can't. You know, maybe they're
not going to do that right away. The way that
(22:43):
they were going to The nurses in the outpatient setting
were offered a severance package. They're now saying that they're
not going to give us that severage severance package because
it's costing them money to bring those other nurses in.
So we're upset.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Beyond being upset, I as an outsider and looking at
this from thirty thousand feet up, as they say, and
I see that there is a management component who doesn't
seem willing to come to the bargaining table and is
okay with going through or enduring this quote unquote one
day strike, even though it may be over five days
that you've been locked out. If we are to assume
(23:20):
that management is going to hold their stance and not
come to the bargaining table at least in the near future,
does that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Mean that your union will then possibly call for a
longer strike in the future.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
We we're gonna take one day to time here, Okay,
We're going to get through this strike. We're gonna get
back and take care of our patients and you know,
and then we will discuss next steps. Right now, we're
not there. We want to focus on the present and
just getting through the next few days.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Amy, can I get you to hold on for a moment.
I'd love to carry over our conversation into the segment.
Can you do that for me?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Joining me right now on the line is registered nurse
Amy Woke. She is at Miller Children and Women's Hospital,
formerly at Long Beach Medical Center. We're talking about the
upcoming forthcoming strike, the one day strike on Thursday, May
twenty second, of nurses who have also been locked out
for five days by management. We're going to talk about
(24:22):
what is going to happen during the strike and what
is going to happen possibly moving forward.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
We'll have more in just a moment. It's Later with
Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty with.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Kelly Okay, We're live everywhere on YouTube, Instagram, and the
iHeartRadio app. And if you're just tuning in, I'm right
in the middle of a conversation with registered nurse Amy Woke,
who works at Miller Children and Women's Hospital in Long Beach,
(25:05):
but she's also on the bargaining team for Long Beach
Medical Center nurses who are going to go on a
one day strike on Thursday, May twenty second, but they've
also been locked out by management over the course of
five days. And Amy, let me bring you back into
the conversation. We talked about what has been leading up
to this moment, how management from where you said, has
(25:28):
not been responsive to your requests, your demands, or even
the desire to negotiate. And I was asking you about
what the future may hold and you're trying to take
this one step at a time. But at the beginning
of our conversation, I talked about how there were a
number of nurses and staff which was laid off. I
just want to make sure that I have my information
(25:50):
correct that there was no management who was laid off.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
It was just frontline nurses. Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, that's my understanding is you know, there were a
couple of respiratory therapists. I think that we're also laid off,
and a few other people within the hospital. But no
high management at all, no management at all. Yeah. And
(26:18):
you know, the whole thing about the strike is interesting.
You know, they keep saying that we're in the hole
in terms of money, yet they're willing to spend four
days extra on a lockout, which is costing millions of dollars,
which again that they could have put back into the contracts,
(26:38):
back into nursing care. It's like they really need to
get rid of the seventy eight nurses if they can
put this amount of money into bringing in outside nurses.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
From what there's a disconnect from what you understand.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
This is just a cost cutting measure. They're trying to
get rid of staff. They're trying to make sure that
you did not get raises. What has been said about
any of this up until this point, as far as
the why.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
The why is basically the concern for medical cruts. They're
coming and we're also seeing the hospitals nationwide are not
being reimbursed as much. So, But I think you know there,
I think there's more to it, and I just can't
put my finger on it, but I you know that
(27:29):
it's just very frustrating when we're sitting across the table
and the hospital keeps you know, what they want to
focus on is taking our rights as nurses away, trying
to take our union away from us, and not focusing
on the bigger problems.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You say, you say, take your union away.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
You think that they're actively trying to bust the union altogether.
It's bigger than this one particular negotiation.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
Yes, yes, I think you know they're looking at trying
to prevent our union reps from coming into the hospital.
They don't want nurse reps to come into the hospital.
It's called loitering. They want to make it so that
we have to go through what's called mandatory arbitration, which
means that if we get hurt in the hospital, they
(28:17):
want us to go to their lawyers to have them
figure it out, instead of us being able to hire
our own lawyer.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
And.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
The way I see it is there's a lack of
respect for nursing in the hospital. We are considered units
of service. That was a term that was used across
the table, that we are units of service. So they're
looking at us in terms of widgets or in terms
of a business model. Healthcare should not be a business model.
(28:47):
Healthcare should be available to anybody and everybody. And in
this time, our healthcare system is turning into a sick
care model. When we wipe out the nurses in the
specialty center where we're taking care of kids with chronic
health conditions, having them live to the best of their ability,
(29:09):
and then you take those nurses away, those kids are
going to end up back in the hospital. So what
are we doing?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Aby?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
My time is running out with you, But I want
you to put it in as stark terms as possible.
If an agreement is not reached in the near future
between the nurses of Long Beach Medical Center and management,
what does that mean for patients? What does that mean
for medical care bigger picture? Because I assume whatever happens
in Long Beach Medical Center could probably happen at any
(29:39):
other hospital.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Well, I think you know again, I want to focus
on what's happening now. I can't look too far out
into the future. I want to focus on what we
can possibly do now. And we do have hope that
the hospital will come back to the table after the
strike and that, you know, say, staffing is key for
(30:03):
taking care of our patients and for attracting and retaining
staff nurses, so you know, they need to invest in
us and hopefully they'll bring some of us back.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
It's later with mo Kelly. Thanks so much, Amy Woke
for coming on.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
She is a nurse at Miller Children and Women's Hospital
in Long Beach. We will continue to follow that story.
It's later with mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty.
We're live on YouTube, We're live on Instagram, We're live
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We're not here to tell you what to think. We're
here to give you the latest ks. I'm KOST HD
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Two Los Angeles, Orange County Live everywhere on the Art
Radio
It's later with Mokeller.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We're live on YouTube, live on Instagram and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Speaking of YouTube, I open up the chat and Darryl Sexton,
who is a longtime listener and support of the show.
If you don't know, the YouTube section has their own
chat community, and he says, evening mo migos.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Is that what they're calling themselves now, the mo migos.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm forgetting to bring it up to you. We need
to get shirts done of that mo apostrophe migos. Ye,
so they're the momgos. That's the community on YouTube. Oh okay,
I'm glad that I know.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Told me it could be a lot worse. No, it
could have been much worse, especially if you had any input.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, I mean, knowing how much I respect you, I mean,
I wouldn't expect to find much. Is it closer to
little or a lot? It's really unqualifiable. Apparently I was
started by Eric Lisardo. Oh okay, what about that? If
it was the mofos. Oh, now we're talking there you go, mofos.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Maybe that ought to be a pole in the chat
there guardiagos, But the mofos yeah, you can't wear mofos everywhere.
I'm assuming that it's probably not welcome in certain environments.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Well, but don't wear anywhere church, dude, out of my head,
get out.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Don't worry.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
None of you go to church any house. It doesn't
matter for a bunch of heathens.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
But speaking of hell being hot, did you get a
load of the weather today? I actually loved it, absolutely
loved it. Oh, thank you, Mark? Tell me what happened?
Are we getting to getting ready to go through a
heat spell? Well, it's a pretty brief one. I mean,
(02:09):
by the time Friday gets here, it's going to be
pretty much upper seventies all the way through Memorial Day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Are you working Memorial Day? By the way, yes, I'll
be here.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That makes all of us well, uh okay, And I
found I'm mistaken that the heat is so hot that
good old Mark is showing off his gams. Yeah, I'm
really flattered that you noticed. Foosh, do you do you
find me attractive?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And shorts? Yeah? They hold your leg up for the camera.
I think not no, no no no no no no
no no.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
No he proud of your chicken legs. No, there's no
need for that show. Some legs and show some leg,
show some leg I'm not here to perform for you, swine.
I'm just going to remain seated. There's no need for that.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
No, people have never seen you in shorts.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well, you have the fan club. They don't need to
you have a huge fan club. They want to see
those sexy legs from the waist. I look completely professional,
and it was just super hot in North Hills when
I left today. It's just everywhere. This was not a
pants day. This was a If I owned a kilt,
it would be a kilt day. Him wearing shorts is
like me wearing pants as it never yet. I've never
(03:14):
seen you in pants, I know exactly, but I've seen
marking shorts. So it gets hot here. I'm very delicate
and sensitive when it comes to the heat. That's not true,
but okay, what sensitive about anything? Right, He's obviously accustomed
to the heat. But anyhow, Yes, I actually do like
the heat. Thank you for throwing out my government name.
(03:35):
I actually do like the heat. It doesn't have to
be hot hot, but I appreciate the general heat, if
only because I don't like the extreme of cold. If
it's hot out, I can turn on the air conditioner,
and I remember saying, and I'll remind you my first
car did not have air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It was a Nissan NX twenty nineteen ninety two. Because
I only made like nineteen thousand dollars a year at
the time, I was working for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,
so I leased a car and with the options, I
had the option of getting an automatic or manual transmission.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Manual save money, and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It used to be where you could get it with
or without air conditioning. Back then it was an option,
and I opted not for the air conditioning to save money.
And I had the option of power windows or rolling
crank up and down the windows.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Cheap asked me.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I went the non motorized windows, and it was bare
bones basics.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
That's how I tried to save money.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Now, twenty five thirty years later, I can't imagine getting
into a car without power windows and air conditioning.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
You couldn't pay me. No, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
When I first moved to Seattle from the Midwest, and
I guess it would have been I don't know, the
mid to late nineties, nobody in Seattle had AC in
their cars, and they thought I was out of my mind.
But then because of this climate change which absolutely doesn't exist,
what you can't buy it car without air conditioning? Now
you cannot, and I don't want to buy a car
(05:04):
without air conditioning. Now I'm officially my father in that regard.
He said, how could you buy a car with no
air conditioning? I can't ride with you. It's like, that's okay,
it's my car. But now it's like, I'm not going
to get into someone's car without air conditioning. It was
it a six shift too, it was five speed. It
was a five speed. Wo My Honda S two thousand
was six feed. Yeah, that was six speed, but it
(05:25):
was just a five speed in the car I learned
on my father's nineteen eighty seventy six Honda Civic was
just a four speed. They were just starting to make
five speed transmission. Oh yeah, this is the first car
I've ever had owned that was not a manual transmission.
I prefer driving stick Even today, you just can't. Oh yeah,
(05:47):
there's just very few places to find it.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
You don't like the you don't like the cool hybrid,
just kind of just your No. I enjoy it, but
I like the process of driving a stick shift. I
like to be able to downshift. I like to have
the control of the car in the way that you
just don't with an automatic transmission.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You just accelerate and break. It's kind of boring.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I even on this car, I still have my right
hand on the shifter as if I'm going to shift,
that's where my hand has always been placed. Well, you
need that hand free for a drink. What do you
think you're Steve McQueen or something. No, well, it's not
like I'm texting and driving. It's got to put my
hand somewhere.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And also I'm left handed, so that makes it real
difficult to text and drive.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I never knew that about you. Well put it this way.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I'm left hand dominant when it comes to things which
require skill. In other words, if I'm going to pick
up a glass, if I'm going to write something, it'll
be with my left hand.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
What's your business hand for smacking somebody? Right hand?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Okay, My left hand is the brains. My right hand
is the brown. So if I'm trying to hurt you,
I'm going to use my right hand.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
If I'm trying to do something which requires finer detail,
I'll use my left hand. No, it's hard to explain.
I like, I'll eat with my left hand, I'll use
it left hand. For a fork, I use right hand,
and I guess I'll pick up a glass with either hand.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But sometime that's a little freakish. It is so weird.
I throw with my right hand. I bat.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I started left handed, but I can bat either way,
and I golf right handed. So you've squandered a career
in professional sports to do this pretty much.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Okay, what do you kick with?
Speaker 5 (07:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
With soccer, I guess my my strength leg would be
my right leg. So you're kind of like me because
I throw left, I bat right, I kick right. So yeah, yeah,
I can kick left because of all the years of
martial arts. But if I just want to wind up
and kick something, It'll probably be my right right.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, but you know, it's weird with my hand. It
could be either thing. I'm pretty balanced with my hands.
It's strange, you know, and part of it since none
of you guys are left handed. Growing up in the
nineteen seventy, oh you are left handed? Yeah, okay, well,
everybody's outing themselves tonight. I have all these secrets, but
(08:02):
growing up, especially in the nineteen seventies, that was discouraged
being left handed, and there weren't any quote unquote left
handed scissors or desks or.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, we got shunned. What is this? Teachers?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Teachers discourage me being left handed and tried to convert
me to being right handed with the shock therapy.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
No, no, no, just reach for something your left hand
and you get there.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Weren't any tools or things available for left handed if
we had the single person desk in a lot of
my schools, so they were made predominantly for right handers.
And so my hand, my left hand was coming from
the open side, nowhere to put my forearm to right.
And so if you know, if you're left handed, you're
kind of crooked your wrists. So everyone can see me on.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
YouTube, Yeah, I had a couple of nightmares before high
school because all I ever saw on TV was the
right handed desks, and I'm like, how am I gonna
How am I gonna survive?
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I don't know the world. Are you lefties living in
a world that does not want us?
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I don't know if it's different now, but back then,
it was discouraged.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I mean it was it was discourged. I had it was.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I think it was Miss Thompson's first grade teacher who
actively said, have you considered writing?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
With the other hand, it's like, no, no, have you
considered not being a mutant? Look, I think it's my
mutant power actually, but look, you know all my teachers
are dead, so I can talk mess about them. I
think for what septional missus Pennington, I think she might
still be alive. You must be a raging cauldron of PSTD,
PTSD and resentment.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember all my teachers and why
I didn't like them, and that's why that My mom
even was like, I'm surprised that, you know, because I
know how to drive a stick and she's like, I
thought it would be weird for you since you're backwards. Yes,
it is backwards, and if you put me in a
European car, I would be fine.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, I would be absolutely fine.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now the shift is obviously reversed, but you know it
wouldn't bother me.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I should have had.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
You as my driver, and you can go with that
where you want to. But when I drove around Ireland
with the long Suffering Ones driving Miss Lazy, yeah, we
had to get we had to get used to driving
on that side of the car and that side of
the road, and we just cheated death. It was like
being in one of those crappy final destination movies. I'm
sure that death is coming from me because we had
(10:23):
some narrow escapes.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I have yet to drive on the other side of
the road, but I want to. I desperately want.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You were born to do it clearly eventually, But yeah,
I've always felt different. To answer your mutant question on
the intimation, it was an insult.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
No, oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Miss Parchment, my kindergarten teacher, she was very nice to me.
She gently, in a very subtle way, suggested you might
want to use the sisters because we doing arts and crafts,
you know, use mother Henferson.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I mean it's like it's like they're hiding communism or
something back in the day, like what is the summer?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
No, actually no, because there was a feeling that left
handers were different intellectually. And I wouldn't say it was
like you were you know, you were slow, as they
used to say back then.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
But yeah, like Mark's joking, but yeah, we were looked
at his mutants. Uh huh, there's like something wrong with us. Yeah,
being dead serious. Miss Thompson, may she rest in peace.
Don't like her, but yes, she tried to change me.
Miss Cochran second grade, she did. Miss Pennington third grade,
she was fine with it. I think mister Crumley fourth
grade gave up. And Miss Trevor the one who'd rap
your knuckles if you were not holding your pen or
(11:31):
pencil correctly the ruler.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yes, yes, I mean that's terrible.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
That was when corporal punishment was on its way out,
but she was still doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
She was fine with it at that point.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Well, we love the two of you with all your
humiliating flaws.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, go to hell. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
KFI. It's Later with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
We're live on YouTube, live on Instagram and the iHeart
Read app, and we're hearing that it's going to be
called Motown in the YouTube chat. I'm not against that.
That's pretty cool, but we can't copyright it, I'm sure. Yeah,
and Mo Migos is in the lead. Mo Migos talking
in Motown And if you're just tuning in, just want
(12:19):
to let you know, we will be giving away Harry
Potter and the Curse Child tickets in the second hour,
and if you log onto the YouTube chat in the
next ten or fifteen minutes or so, we'll tell you
when exactly those tickets will be given away. You might
want to know that just in case you want a
chance to win one of the three pairs were giving away.
And I didn't know this to switch gears, Talla, I
(12:42):
didn't know this until you gave me this story. That
California has an active undersea volcano. Yes, didn't know that, Okay,
And at least it's not right next to La but still,
it's off the coast of California in the San Francisco area.
It's about seven hundred miles northwest of San Francisco, and
they call the volcano, you know, Axial Seamount, and it's
(13:03):
drawing increasing scrutiny from scientists who only discovered it its
existence in the nineteen eighties. Still, I hadn't heard about it,
and they think it might erupt on a.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Low level by the end of this calendar year.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And I'm thinking, if you told me California volcano, I'm thinking, like, Okay,
this is like the plot of sil movie with Tommy
Lee Jones or something.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
What am I looking at?
Speaker 7 (13:27):
That lake was sixty two degrees yesterday today it's like
to sixty eight day.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It is lovely, isn't it?
Speaker 7 (13:34):
Mister Rory takes a geological event to heat a million
gallons of water by six.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Degrees in twelve hours.
Speaker 7 (13:40):
What is a geological event?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
I'm sure you're aware of this.
Speaker 7 (13:43):
That our continents sit on tectonic plates, great big rasps
floating over.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Notion in a molteno.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
Yeah, when they shift like they did this morning, we
get an earthquake. Okay, same mechanism can sometimes open a fissure.
Sometimes magma can find one of those fishes will rise
up through.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
That's magna lava lava here in La It's one of
several possibilities.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
It is unlikely, but it is a possibility.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
We have a history of that here in the downtown area.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Padigroutine nineteen forty three, Mexican pharmacy smoke coming out of the.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Middle of his cornfield.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Is weeks later, there's a volcano one thousand feet high.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
There's no history of anything.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Until it happens.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
There's no history of anything until it happens. Maybe it's
life imitating art. Maybe we'll have an eruption in Lava
Pori into San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I love that they tried to dismiss this. It's probably
gonna be nothing. It's a volcano just off the coast
of San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
No, if that happens, if.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
It just explodes Mount Vesuvius in the San Francisco Bay.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
They didn't know it was there until the nineteen eighties.
It probably predates the nineteen eighties. Scientists have been known
to be wrong about predicting the eruptions of volcanoes.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, they almost never get it right. Never.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Hey, Mark, I'm sorry because I know you're busy. Where
were you during Mount Saint Helen's.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I was in Washington State, across the state from it,
but it covered everything. It was like a snowfall everywhere.
What was the news lead up to it? From what
you remember? Were they semi accurate?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Were people somewhat concerned or did they try to dismiss it?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I was just a kid.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
I mean there were the people like that Harry Truman,
guy I was, who refused to move out of his
cabin I think, and he quickly became the late Harry Truman. So, yeah,
the science deniers always have a great history of outcomes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
All I can say is, I didn't know about this
until today. They say that there's a possibility, or a
bolt possibility, that it could erupt before the end of
this Calenardy year. The scientists also say that it would
be a minor eruption. Well, yeah, it's minor until it's not.
You know, you can only forecast what is going to
be to a certain degree. They made not expect that,
(16:00):
but who knows. All I know is there is an
undersea volcano which is active just off the coast of California.
They say that if it erupts, it would not trigger
a tsunami.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Until it does, they're singing a whole lot.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
They're having a whole lot of predictions about what could
possibly happen that really, truly no one was asking for.
Why did they have to release this in the first place.
They could have just kept quiet about it. They're telling
us about it in small doses now so that when
it does get closer, they can say, hey, so remember
that underground under sea volcano or Tima. It's a little
(16:34):
more active, it's a little more ready to pop. You
all need to get out of California. There's no history
of anything until it happens. When we come back. I'll
be joined on the line by registered nurse Amy Wolke.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
She is a part of the striking nurses at Long
Beach Medical Center who they're going to go on strike tomorrow.
We're going to preview that and also see where the
negotiations are, if anywhere at all. In just a moment,
It's Later with mo Kelly. I Am six forty Live
everywhere on YouTube, the iHeartRadio app and Instagram.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
JFI. It's Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, and the iHeartRadio app. Let's
talk to registered nurse Amy Wolke, who is at Miller
Children and Women's Hospital in Long Beach as we talk
about the forthcoming strike, the one day strike which is
coming up on Thursday, May twenty second. Amy, how are
you this evening?
Speaker 5 (17:37):
I'm doing well. How are you, Mo?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
I'm doing fine, And I want to add that you're
also on the bargaining team, so you will literally be
sitting at the table. This is presuming that management comes
to the table. I spoke to one of your colleagues
about a week or so ago, and at that point
management had not made any overtures if they were ready
to negotiate.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Has anything changed.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
No, nothing is changed, and if anything, it's just gotten.
I guess a lot more stressful in the hospital setting.
Not only am I on the bargaining team, but I'm
also one of the nurses that was laid off in
the outpatient specialty clinics that we call the village, the
(18:19):
children's village. So I'm wearing a couple of different hats
right now. I'm trying to support my nurses and I'm
also trying to support myself through this hard time.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
How many, I'm sorry jump in there, but how many
people were laid off in this most recent round of
medical staff being laid off?
Speaker 5 (18:42):
We had about seventy eight nurses laid off. Fifty five
nurses in the outpatient setting. In the specialty center where
we take care of kids with all kinds of special
needs chronic health conditions, forty seven out of sixty nine
of our nurses were laid out. Seventy percent of our nurses.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Would you have that much of a loss of staff.
How does that translate to patient care?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Where? Where does that impact you.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Personally? I think it's going to really impact patient care.
A lot of our nurses out in the outpatient center.
We had a meeting today and some of those nurses
have been nursing for thirty years, some of them twenty years.
And in the outpatient setting, a lot of us like
I'm one of the new beests and I've been there
eight years. So it's been a place where we have
(19:37):
brought our skill and our love for these kids to
keep them safe and to keep them healthy. And by
taking us out of the village, we feel that it
is not going to be a safe place for these
(19:59):
kids right now anyway.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
What are nurses at Long Beach Medical Center asking for
in this hopefully eventual negotiation.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
What are we asking for? We are asking for all
kinds of things. We're asking to address our concerns about staffing,
about workplace violence, and we and recruitment and retention. We
have situations where our nurses and some of our units,
(20:29):
like the NICK you that's the Neonatal intensive care unit,
the intensive care unit, and in the er, these nurses
all work twelve hour shifts but sometimes they don't get breaks,
and sometimes they're asked to work another four hours. Now,
think about that, trying to care for sick patients and
you're trying to do that over a sixteen hour period.
(20:50):
So we are really concerned for first of all, for
our nurses and their safety, but also for our patient safety.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Beyond the patient's safety.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I understand that management is going to be bringing in
other nurses for this one days strike to cover the
staff who will be striking.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
How does that play out? Is that even feasible.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
That they can take care of our patients correct? Well,
I'm sure that they will be able to take care
of them. Will they be able to do as good
of a job as we do? No, And we we
feel that, you know the hospital's response. You know, first
of all, we gave the strike notice, and we gave
it a day before our last bargaining day with the
(21:37):
hopes that they were going to come to the table
and give us a you know, some things that we
could actually look at, that we could talk about, because
we haven't felt like there's been a good conversation going
back and forth in terms of these proposals. So this
one days strike, we did that because we wanted to
(21:57):
take care of our patients, and you know, locking us
out for five days, it's a tremendous cost to the
medical center and to the community. You know, they signed
the contract to replace us for five days. That's millions
of dollars that they could have put back into the
hospital and put into you know, safety. You know, we're
(22:22):
we're asking we have we have issues with workplace violence,
and we've asked for you know, metal detectors or and
you know, they said, well, yeah, we'll get that for you.
But now they're saying, we can't. You know, maybe they're
not going to do that right away. The way that
(22:43):
they were going to The nurses in the outpatient setting
were offered a severance package. They're now saying that they're
not going to give us that severage severance package because
it's costing them money to bring those other nurses in.
So we're upset.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Beyond being upset, I as an outsider and looking at
this from thirty thousand feet up, as they say, and
I see that there is a management component who doesn't
seem willing to come to the bargaining table and is
okay with going through or enduring this quote unquote one
day strike, even though it may be over five days
that you've been locked out. If we are to assume
(23:20):
that management is going to hold their stance and not
come to the bargaining table at least in the near future,
does that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Mean that your union will then possibly call for a
longer strike in the future.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
We we're gonna take one day to time here, Okay,
We're going to get through this strike. We're gonna get
back and take care of our patients and you know,
and then we will discuss next steps. Right now, we're
not there. We want to focus on the present and
just getting through the next few days.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Amy, can I get you to hold on for a moment.
I'd love to carry over our conversation into the segment.
Can you do that for me?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Joining me right now on the line is registered nurse
Amy Woke. She is at Miller Children and Women's Hospital,
formerly at Long Beach Medical Center. We're talking about the
upcoming forthcoming strike, the one day strike on Thursday, May
twenty second, of nurses who have also been locked out
for five days by management. We're going to talk about
(24:22):
what is going to happen during the strike and what
is going to happen possibly moving forward.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
We'll have more in just a moment. It's Later with
Mo Kelly.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty with.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Kelly Okay, We're live everywhere on YouTube, Instagram, and the
iHeartRadio app. And if you're just tuning in, I'm right
in the middle of a conversation with registered nurse Amy Woke,
who works at Miller Children and Women's Hospital in Long Beach,
(25:05):
but she's also on the bargaining team for Long Beach
Medical Center nurses who are going to go on a
one day strike on Thursday, May twenty second, but they've
also been locked out by management over the course of
five days. And Amy, let me bring you back into
the conversation. We talked about what has been leading up
to this moment, how management from where you said, has
(25:28):
not been responsive to your requests, your demands, or even
the desire to negotiate. And I was asking you about
what the future may hold and you're trying to take
this one step at a time. But at the beginning
of our conversation, I talked about how there were a
number of nurses and staff which was laid off. I
just want to make sure that I have my information
(25:50):
correct that there was no management who was laid off.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
It was just frontline nurses. Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, that's my understanding is you know, there were a
couple of respiratory therapists. I think that we're also laid off,
and a few other people within the hospital. But no
high management at all, no management at all. Yeah. And
(26:18):
you know, the whole thing about the strike is interesting.
You know, they keep saying that we're in the hole
in terms of money, yet they're willing to spend four
days extra on a lockout, which is costing millions of dollars,
which again that they could have put back into the contracts,
(26:38):
back into nursing care. It's like they really need to
get rid of the seventy eight nurses if they can
put this amount of money into bringing in outside nurses.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
From what there's a disconnect from what you understand.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
This is just a cost cutting measure. They're trying to
get rid of staff. They're trying to make sure that
you did not get raises. What has been said about
any of this up until this point, as far as
the why.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
The why is basically the concern for medical cruts. They're
coming and we're also seeing the hospitals nationwide are not
being reimbursed as much. So, But I think you know there,
I think there's more to it, and I just can't
put my finger on it, but I you know that
(27:29):
it's just very frustrating when we're sitting across the table
and the hospital keeps you know, what they want to
focus on is taking our rights as nurses away, trying
to take our union away from us, and not focusing
on the bigger problems.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You say, you say, take your union away.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
You think that they're actively trying to bust the union altogether.
It's bigger than this one particular negotiation.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
Yes, yes, I think you know they're looking at trying
to prevent our union reps from coming into the hospital.
They don't want nurse reps to come into the hospital.
It's called loitering. They want to make it so that
we have to go through what's called mandatory arbitration, which
means that if we get hurt in the hospital, they
(28:17):
want us to go to their lawyers to have them
figure it out, instead of us being able to hire
our own lawyer.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
And.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
The way I see it is there's a lack of
respect for nursing in the hospital. We are considered units
of service. That was a term that was used across
the table, that we are units of service. So they're
looking at us in terms of widgets or in terms
of a business model. Healthcare should not be a business model.
(28:47):
Healthcare should be available to anybody and everybody. And in
this time, our healthcare system is turning into a sick
care model. When we wipe out the nurses in the
specialty center where we're taking care of kids with chronic
health conditions, having them live to the best of their ability,
(29:09):
and then you take those nurses away, those kids are
going to end up back in the hospital. So what
are we doing?
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Aby?
Speaker 2 (29:17):
My time is running out with you, But I want
you to put it in as stark terms as possible.
If an agreement is not reached in the near future
between the nurses of Long Beach Medical Center and management,
what does that mean for patients? What does that mean
for medical care bigger picture? Because I assume whatever happens
in Long Beach Medical Center could probably happen at any
(29:39):
other hospital.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Well, I think you know again, I want to focus
on what's happening now. I can't look too far out
into the future. I want to focus on what we
can possibly do now. And we do have hope that
the hospital will come back to the table after the
strike and that, you know, say, staffing is key for
(30:03):
taking care of our patients and for attracting and retaining
staff nurses, so you know, they need to invest in
us and hopefully they'll bring some of us back.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
It's later with mo Kelly. Thanks so much, Amy Woke
for coming on.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
She is a nurse at Miller Children and Women's Hospital
in Long Beach. We will continue to follow that story.
It's later with mo Kelly k IF. I am six forty.
We're live on YouTube, We're live on Instagram, We're live
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We're not here to tell you what to think. We're
here to give you the latest ks. I'm KOST HD
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Two Los Angeles, Orange County Live everywhere on the Art
Radio
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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