NY Nurse December 2015/January 2016

North Country holiday celebration

Capital Region nurses celebrated a year of successes and renewed their commitment to protect quality patient care at the Inter-regional meeting held on December 8 in Schenectady.

Cortland County members’ holiday giving

Karen Felker-Harrity, RN and LBU Chair, was...

For NYSNA nurses at Nathan Littauer Hospital, a 74-bed facility in Gloversville, there was no alternative. After multiple rounds of bargaining with no progress on key priorities, the nurses carried out a one-day unfair labor practice strike on January 6.

“Every nurse at Nathan Littauer is deeply...

Nominations are being accepted for the following NYSNA offices and positions: President, First Vice President, Treasurer, five (5) Directors at Large, Southeastern Regional Director, Eastern Regional Director, and Western Regional Director.

Nominations forms, Consent to Serve forms, and Candidate...

NYSNA members in Western New York have a new headquarters in the heart of downtown Buffalo. The office, located on the third floor of 617 Main Street, is centrally located and aims to be a hub for nurses and our community and political allies.

On the evening of December 9, NYSNA hosted an open house...

A delegation of healthcare workers, including NYSNA nurses and SEIU1199 doctors and social workers, traveled to Cuba in November to study that nation’s health system. The research delegation met with public health officials, doctors, nurses, teachers, trade unionists and community groups to learn...

In the 54 years during which Irmatrude Grant, RN, worked at NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYCH+H), she witnessed the evolution of the city’s public health system. She retired in December, but this extraordinary RN has no plans to sit back.

Ms. Grant’s nursing experience encompassed...

Jalisa Saud, RN and NYSNA young nurse leader, (back row, second from right) joined Tom Morello and other Rock and Roll luminaries, as he delivered a message of solidarity and peace to concertgoers during the “Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert,” at Madison Square Garden on December 5.

While...

RNs in NYC Health and Hospitals facilities, clinics and mayorals are receiving lump sum checks on Friday, January 29, for retroactive pay due under their contract

This came in the aftermath of the submission of a petition with more than 4,600 RN signatures that called on the New York City Council to...

As reported in the June issue of New York Nurse, New York City opted not to renew agreements with private contractors Corizon, Inc. (formerly Prison Health Services) and Damian Family Care Centers for provision of health services to the 70,000 people who are held in the city’s correctional system...

Over past months, NYSNA members across New York have been stepping up to the union’s Safe Staffing Captains program, an initiative to document the data on nurse-to-patient ratios for contract enforcement — to make sure that management lives up to our agreements. The program relies on Safe Staffing...

The close of 2015 saw the retirement of many long-serving Long Island nurses, leaving a void for co-workers and patients alike. While they will be missed in the halls of their hospitals, their service and impact will continue to be felt as they move into the next phase of their lives. Among them...

Few can keep pace with Yasmine Beausejour, RN, Northwell Health System’s Franklin Hospital. She works in her hospital’s 2C Med/Surg Telemetry unit and is designated wound care “champion” there; she is also Safe Staffing Captain on the unit. This indefatigable nurse is a constant and vocal advocate...

Against professional advice and the interests of NYSNA nurses and others who work in the hospital, the Massena Town Council voted on December 16 to allow Massena Memorial Hospital (MMH) to move forward with a plan to go private and convert the municipal facility to an independent non-profit. The...

The stark reality at Oneida Healthcare Center (OHC) for nurses in the Med/Surg unit is this: patient loads of 9, 10 or even more. Throughout several months of bargaining, the hospital’s nurses have been sounding the alarm about the impact of these patient assignments on the quality and safety of...

NYSNA joined forces with the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU at seven chronic dialysis facilities in Brooklyn, Bronx and New Rochelle, with informational picketing on January 15. The message: protect quality patient care with fair contracts for nurses and healthcare workers.

Fresenius Medical Care is...

NYSNA members at Vassar Brothers Medical Center (VBMC) in Poughkeepsie started the New Year with a new contract and a good deal to celebrate. The 750 nurses brought more than ten months of negotiations to a close late on December 14, and on December 22 ratified the agreement with an overwhelming...

As a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Room, I treated hundreds of women, men, and children who fell victim to gun violence. I cared for and comforted people whose bodies were broken by bullets — this wasn’t violence that I just read about in the newspaper, it was something I experienced in vivid...

NYSNA contracts are fought and won in the realm of collective bargaining where preparation is extensive: staff research on the economics of proposals, on facilities and corporate profiles; lawyers argue and defend our positions; communications gets the word out and circulating; evidentiary support...

One Christmas, we nurses decided — as we always do — to celebrate the holiday at work: everyone cooking to make it special, as we spent it with our “work families.” There was a patient who was a victim of a crime. She was one of our favorites, grateful for any small thing and possessing years of...