Oakland's Hospital Workers And Patients Rally For Pediatric Care

OAKLAND, CA — Staff, families of patients and healthcare advocates rallied in front of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland on Thursday, protesting the hospital's decision to relocate specialized treatment clinics to its San Francisco branch.

Participants said the move creates barriers for patients to access care and raised questions about whether the hospital was appropriately using funds partially designated for pediatric services. But hospital officials say they are concentrating resources for highly specialized procedures so patients can receive the highest quality of care.

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According to social worker Paola Portillo, the hospital started transferring the clinics a year ago, when UCSF Health integrated with the Children's Hospital Oakland.

For bone marrow treatments and interventional radiology, patients are forced to travel to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco. This can be dangerous, she said.

"Children that go through a bone marrow transplant are immunocompromised, meaning that their immune system has been wiped out," said Portillo. Having to take public transport to San Francisco exposes patients to the risk of getting a dangerous infection, she said.

But UCSF spokesperson Kristen Bole says the move improves the hospital's quality of care. She used bone marrow treatment as an example.

"Inpatient BMT is a highly complex service where patient volume, specialized infrastructure, faculty coverage and 24/7support are essential," she wrote in a statement. "Concentrating non-gene therapy inpatient BMT care at Mission Bay allows us to provide the safest and most sustainable model for patients and families."

Hospital officials also pointed out that the movement of care was not one-way: starting this month, patients admitted for rehabilitative treatment have been directed to the children's hospital in Oakland, Bole said.

Another worry from those at the rally is that UCSF has allegedly not been transparent about how it has allocated funding from 2020's Measure C. The measure implemented a half-percent sales tax that partially went to fund pediatric health care at the children's hospital.

"The community fought so hard for Measure C because every child deserves access to life-saving, pediatric, high-quality care right here in Oakland," said Agnes Cho, a policy advisor speaking on behalf of Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas. "The funding should go towards strengthening care for children right here in Oakland."

Protesters pointed to UCSF's $3.3 billion endowment, which they say has been misused. Last October, the University Professional & Technical Employees union published a report on the University of California's spending, which highlighted projects such as the $4.3 billion UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights.

"What I have a problem with is saying the kids from the East Bay have to go to San Francisco to get care, so that UC can build a fancy hospital for its richest patients in San Francisco," said Dan Russell, the union's president.
Bole said that UCSF has been investing in its Oakland campus, citing upgrades that are expected to be completed in 2030 and cost $1.6 billion.

"Oakland is central to our pediatric health system, and we are making the largest investment in the campus' history," she said. "We do not make investments of this scale in a campus, workforce or community we plan to leave behind."

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