New York State Nurses Association calls on Albany Medical Center to take immediate action to protect patients, the community and nurses during this uptick in COVID cases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 23, 2020
Contact: Halimah Elmariah | helmariah@kivvit.com | 201.290.9753

CDC Guidelines on PPEs must be followed

Patients must NOT be moved without COVID test results

Crisis staffing ratio on the COVID floor that was created by the hospital must be followed

Albany, NY - The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) is calling on Albany Medical Center to take immediate action to protect patients, the community and nurses during this uptick in COVID cases.

NYSNA continues to raise the red flag on three issues in particular.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) calls for masks to be re-used only if there is NOT a 90 day supply of equipment. The state says all hospitals have a 90 day supply. Albany Medical Center says it has a 90 day supply. The question is: why are hospital executives forcing nurses to re-use masks up to 20 times on many different people? Click here for a look at the masks from Sunday 11/22 that the hospital wants to re-use.

Albany Medical Center must stop moving patients from floor to floor without getting the results of a COVID test back. We must make sure that the virus is not spreading from floor to floor, unit to unit. Why is Albany Medical Center mixing patient populations in a way that could easily spread the virus?

Albany Medical Center created a nurse to patient crisis staffing ratio that they are now actively violating. It was essential in the spring for proper patient care and it remains essential for the fall surge.

We believe that these practices create an immediate threat of harm to nurses and patients and should be immediately remedied. Nurses at Albany Medical Center have been working day and night to care for patients in the Albany area without a contract for the last 2 years. NYSNA is ready, willing and able to go back to the negotiating table to figure out ways to solve all the above problems. We are just waiting to hear from hospital management that they're finally ready to address these issues.

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The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. For more information, please visit nysna.org.

About NYSNA

The New York State Nurses Association is a union of 42,000 frontline nurses united together for strength at work, our practice, safe staffing, and healthcare for all. We are New York's largest union and professional association for registered nurses.