RNs at Bellevue Woman's Center voted overwhelmingly to join our union!
"I am so proud to become a NYSNA member," said Chris McCann, a nursery RN, when she announced the results at a victory party.
“This election is a great victory for nurses, our patients, and our entire community,” said Christine Walthers, Bellevue RN and a leader of the organizing drive. “We decided to join NYSNA after management started to make changes to how we care for our patients – without consulting us. Nurses and our patients need a voice in healthcare. NYSNA is that voice.”
On November 13th, a judge ordered that the hospital must stay open while further mediation occurs between owners that want to close the facility and the advocates of keeping Interfaith Medical Center open for care. NYSNA rallied at the courthouse while proceedings were occurring, and members were heartened by the news.
NYSNA members have noted that the facility is alone in serving the community, and that its closure would leave residents without medical care. Ari Moma, a NYSNA leader and RN in Psychiatric Services at Interfaith, noted that "today's decision to move forward with mediation was a positive step toward finding a solution that maintains healthcare access in Central Brooklyn. We are looking forward to contributing to the conversation with the goal of ensuring that any plan for the future of Interfaith takes the needs of the community into account.”
Moma went on to note that mental health services are of particular concern: “The Affordable Care Act mandates insurers to treat mental health care on par with physical health so the demand for psychiatric care will soon expand - at the same time we've seen cuts in mental health services, with fewer in-patient psychiatric beds in Brooklyn. Interfaith is the largest private provider of psychiatric services in the borough and essential to the care of thousands of mental health patients."
A little rain couldn't stop us from rallying for safe staffing!
More than 100 St. Joe's RNs, Yonkers City Council members, community supporters, and NYSNA RNs took the streets of Yonkers to rally for safe nurse-to-patient ratios.
"We do 200% sometimes so we don't abandon our patients, but we need more staffing," said Hasan Haman, RN at St. Joseph's.
St. Joseph's Medical Center is a vital community hospital in downtown Yonkers that served more than 48,000 patients in 2012. In 2012, CEO Michael J. Spicer made $772,606, plus $194,943 in other compensation – a 19% increase over the previous year.
NYSNA RNs are calling for a new contract that guarantees safe minimum staffing levels for patients.
"You keep us safe. I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe," promised Yonkers City Council Member Chris Johnson
"Definitely this is something that patients need, because we are really the last line of advocacy for our patients, aren't we?" NYSNA President Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN told News 12. Check out the coverage.
Nurses at Niskayuna's Bellevue Women's Center presented a petition to Ellis Hospital management requesting recognition of our union. Almost every single nurse at Bellevue signed the petition.
Many Bellevue nurses are specially trained to care for newborns or mothers who have delivered by C-section. Management is re-assigning these skilled nurses to care for other kinds of patients – without the appropriate level of training or orientation, say nurses. Here's what two of those RNs had to say today:
"We are very concerned that the changes management has made could compromise care for our patients – new mothers, women, and babies," said Christine Walthers, RN in post-partum. "We need a say in patient care decisions in our hospital. That's why we are joining the New York State Nurses Association."
"I see nurses being forced to take on 10 patients at once. That is too many," said Vickie Decker, RN for 24 years at Bellevue. "We're on the front lines of the changes in healthcare. We're looking forward to sitting down with Ellis Hospital management to discuss how we can work together to improve care for our patients."
