“This is our home, and we want to keep it!”

Nurses and residents blast plans to privatize services at the Chemung County Skilled Nursing Facility

ELMIRA, Jan. 4, 2013 – Residents of the Chemung County Skilled Nursing Facility are joining registered nurses in a campaign to tell county officials that privatizing the facility would be an expensive mistake.

Over the next three months, local viewers will see a 30-second television spot featuring testimonials from several residents and RNs -- who say the facility is being managed well by the county, so why ruin it through privatization? The spot features Bruce Flaherty, a well-known local television news anchor who’s been a resident for more than two years.
An expanded two-minute video version of this spot is available on the New York State Nurses Association’s website: nysna.org/chemung. It will be distributed to county officials and will be available to the community upon request.
Billboards will be posted through April on Grand Central Avenue south of McCanns Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue south of Clemens Center Parkway.
RNs and residents will get the word out through public activities, speaking before the County Legislature and with elected public officials individually, and with local community organizations.

County officials are expected to take up the matter in April. Meetings to discuss options are scheduled for 1:30 and 3:15 PM, Wednesday, Jan. 9, in the Assembly Room of the Nursing Facility.

The 56 RNs are represented by the New York State Nurses Association. RNs and residents can be available for interviews on request.

The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for hundreds of thousands of frontline nurses. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses.

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