{"id":206868,"date":"2026-03-06T05:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206868\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:51:07","slug":"health-workers-protest-ucsf-demand-action-for-fatal-s-f-stabbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206868\/","title":{"rendered":"Health workers protest UCSF, demand action for fatal S.F. stabbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly three months to the day after social worker Alberto Rangel<\/a> was fatally stabbed<\/a> at San Francisco General Hospital, more than 100 of his colleagues today gathered at UCSF Medical Center in Mission Bay to protest what they feel is a tepid response<\/a> by UCSF following his death<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rally was called by UPTE-CWA 9119, the union of professional and technical employees at the University of California, which represents about 23,000 workers. Medical workers at General Hospital\u2019s Ward 86<\/a>, the HIV\/AIDS clinic where Rangel worked, are employed by UCSF.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rangel\u2019s fellow social workers cited a recent union survey<\/a> that found that 90 percent of UPTE social workers reported having experienced physical, sexual, or verbal threats, assaults, or intimidation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AFormer Ward 86 social worker Alberto Rangel<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know staff feel unsafe,\u201d said Matias Campos, the union\u2019s executive vice president. \u201cThe mayor has been responsive. The city and public health [department] has been responsive. But not our own employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Joi Jackson, a social worker and former colleague of Rangel, said she loves her job \u2014 \u201dI am working in my calling\u201d \u2014 but said it has come with risk. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very challenging to be working with this population. You have patients who are psychotic,\u201d she said. She recalled a time she once used a garbage can to shield herself from a violent patient, eventually escaping to a safe room at the clinic. She hid there until police arrived. <\/p>\n

Jackson says staff at the mental health and substance use ward deserve greater support.<\/p>\n

When the speakers finished at around 1 p.m., protesters walked across 16th Street to UCSF\u2019s Mission Hall, home to the chancellor\u2019s office. Police flanked the doors to the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCSF is not taking our concerns seriously and what we want is for them to meet with us,\u201d Campos said.<\/p>\n

The protesters demanded that the chancellor come out but they were told he was not currently in his office. Instead, they delivered a letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole thing is so, so frustrating. It\u2019s crazy to me that they\u2019re staffing this many police \u2014 we\u2019re not going to react in an aggressive or obstructive way,\u201d said Alex Alvarez, the social worker and first-responder when Rangel was stabbed last December.<\/p>\n

Alvarez hasn\u2019t worked since Dec. 4, the day of the stabbing. He says he now suffers from PTSD and chronic back issues. Since the stabbing, he hasn\u2019t always been able to sleep through the night. He says that he\u2019s only able to collect two-thirds of his original income. After the two initial weeks off, he\u2019s had to tap into PTO, including sick pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not me asking for a thank you, this is not me asking for charity or anything,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cUCSF has done nothing to acknowledge the sacrifices I made that day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly three months to the day after social worker Alberto Rangel was fatally stabbed at San Francisco General…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-206868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}