A hospital worker in San Joaquin County finds a wrecked car after his Thanksgiving shift

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY – Several workers and staff at a local hospital are tired of returning to their cars after a full shift to find they have been broken into or stolen.

Employees at San Joaquin General Hospital say they want change and are calling on the county to implement it.

The county said it would review hospital safety measures and the safety of workers and patients.

While there is security on the property and gates to access staff parking, for many workers this is not enough.

On Thanksgiving night, a San Joaquin County General Hospital employee returned to his car after a full shift with broken bricks, tires and rims.

They parked in the staff parking lot.

“Workers are upset, that would be an understatement,” said Desiree Collins, board president of the local SEIU 1021 chapter for San Joaquin County.

Collins said county workers have endured things like theft, vandalism and even assaults in county parking lots on the way to and from their cars.

“And now their tires are being stolen in the hospital. Pretty egregious actions by people,” she said.

Although the parking lots have a third-party security provider and gates for designated parking spaces, Collins said that is not enough.

“Some departments have said that security is not there to protect employees, but to protect the property itself. It gives a disturbing feeling,” Collins said.

So what can change? CBS 13 gets answers.

“My first reaction was you saw this car jacked up on blocks,” said 4th District Supervisor Steve Ding. “They’re upset, they’re upset, so I said I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

County Executive Steve Ding said the county is now reviewing safety measures at the hospital.

“Let’s go over everything again,” Ding said. “There were comments there about the parking lot security arm not working properly. I said I wanted to analyze it.”

However, adding security or repairing gates costs money.

“There is no greater priority than employee safety, and when we need the money, we will find it,” Ding said.

But for Collins and the thousands of people she represents, it’s not just about the hospital staff.

“Administrative building, the courthouse,” Collins said. “We keep getting complaints about people being attacked walking back and forth between parking spaces, even if they’re just walking from the curb to the building.”

An employee told CBS 13 off-camera that some sort of survey was underway to gauge concerns and find out what employees’ priorities were.