FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, April 6, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
STATEMENT by Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge regarding SB348 (Community input for emergency care):
The Culinary Union supports Senate Bill 348.
The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest health care consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 130,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.
As such, Culinary Union and the Culinary Health Fund are leaders in the health care policy space in Nevada and we continue advocating for patient protections, lowering health care costs, and increasing transparency.
The majority of Culinary Union membership lives on the East Side of the Las Vegas Valley and in North Las Vegas, areas that are health care deserts. The Culinary Health Fund intentionally located our first Health Center on Nellis and Lamb because approximately 40,000 Culinary members live within a 5-mile radius of that location.
Culinary Union members have noticed a disturbing pattern of a proliferation of free-standing emergency rooms in neighborhoods where workers live, as well as the conversion of neighborhood hospitals like Desert Springs Hospital, into emergency-only facilities.
Some Culinary Union members believe they are going to an urgent care, but end up paying emergency room rates.
Nevada needs to step in and create a separate licensing process for freestanding emergency rooms, as well as require notification when hospitals are going to be removed from working class communities and replaced with these sorts of facilities.
Passing this bill will benefit all Nevadans and the Culinary Union is proud of its decades-long history of advocating for and winning health care legislation that protects the entire State and all Nevadans.
The Culinary Union encourages the Nevada Legislature to support and pass SB348.
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ABOUT CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America.
The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 145,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 immigrants become American citizens and new voters since 2001 through our affiliate, The Citizenship Project.
The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 45% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latinx, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples.
Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 88 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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