Valley Health System trims local staff

Michelle Swafford

Tuesday, June 1, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Universal Health Services' Valley Health System, which operates four Las Vegas Valley hospitals, laid off 2.5 percent of its Las Vegas-area employees in May.

Desert Springs, Spring Valley, Summerlin and Valley hospitals combined laid off 60 administrative and management employees May 20.

"None of these 60 positions were in direct patient care," said Mike Tymczyn, spokesman for the Valley Health System, which consists of the four Las Vegas hospitals. "We did not change our nurse-to-patient ratios. We did not change our standard of care. A patient in our hospitals should not notice any difference in care."

Valley Hospital eliminated 31 positions when it merged a cardiac unit with its medical-surgical unit, but the nurses affected by the merger were assigned to new positions, Tymczyn said.

One nurse case manager was laid off as a result of that merger, but she did not work directly with patients, he said.

Desert Springs and Spring Valley hospitals cut eight positions, while Summerlin cut 13, Tymczyn said.

Two of Desert Springs' employees were nurses and they were offered other jobs within Valley Health System, he said.

"It's not like we're not hiring anymore," Tymczyn said. "We still do have open jobs and open positions."

Types of jobs that were eliminated included education coordinators who scheduled training for Valley Health System's employees and Senior Advantage coordinators who oversaw the company's wellness and educational programs for people age 50 and older.

Those coordinator duties are now being handled by other employees, Tymczyn said.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1107 represents the nurses at Desert Springs and Valley hospitals and said the local cuts seem unnecessary since the Valley Health System is the most profitable system of Pennsylvania-based Universal's operations and Las Vegas Valley hospitals are already experiencing a shortage of nurses.

Tymczyn said that the SEIU and the Valley Health System are in negotiations to renew the nurses' contracts for Desert Springs and Valley hospitals.

Universal Health announced in April that it would be laying off some employees to streamline operations and improve the company's financial situation.