Reviving a Healthcare System in Critical Condition

By Stefani L. Zinerman, NYS Assembly Member 56th District (Kings County, NYC)

The 245th legislative session has commenced and I have a heightened awareness of what an honor it is to represent the people of New York’s 56th Assembly District. Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights are culturally rich and historically significant neighborhoods. They are home to the largest concentration of people of African descent and boasts a vibrantly diverse population who own or work at thriving businesses and organizations that enrich our quality of life every day.

It is a privilege to introduce legislation, and participate in budget negotiations, that will secure resources, not only for my district but communities throughout New York State. Their trust in my ability to address the myriad of complex issues during the challenging time of this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic fuels my dedication to this work.

After more than two years in this fight, we now face the convergence of multiple COVID-19 variants and staggering deficits in our medical and operational staffing. Mitigation will require an unprecedented call to action if our hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare centers are to survive. This most contagious and extended cycle has caused high absenteeism among doctors, nurses, and many other vital medical roles whether due to extended quarantine, or the wave of professionals who are exiting their fields due to exhaustion, or hopelessness.

As a state, we must prioritize helping hospitals and health centers to innovate their systems in order to provide for continuous quality delivery of care. Re-thinking methodologies to fill in coverage gaps must transcend this moment of crisis to help build a sustainable high-quality primary-care system that will focus on health and wellness instead of reactive emergency services. There are some common-sense measures we could adopt permanently to prepare for the future of quality healthcare.

As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Emerging Workforce, I advocate for creating staffing models that build sustainable pipelines into understaffed positions. Currently, our hospitals have a desperate need for Phlebotomists, Electrocardiograph (EKG or ECG) technicians, aides to assist with patients, and workers who can provide transport, stock shelves, and carts, and get test results to labs. All of these jobs can be taught with minimal training or through certificate programs that are available online. Pharmacy technicians also offer employment opportunities through short-term training. Recently, I toured a CVS Workforce Center that provides training and a competitive salary with benefits.

In addition, teaching hospitals should be the norm and not an exception. Students enrolled in the healthcare professions in high school, nursing schools, medical and med-tech colleges should have the opportunity to intern under seasoned professionals and gain on-the-job experience as they learn. Hospitals and healthcare centers are the beating hearts of our state. They must look to their greater purpose and contributions to their communities beyond the emergency room and hospital beds. Neighborhoods from Brooklyn to Buffalo have young people and older adults looking for encore careers who can fill these positions.

Lastly, we should finally embrace our role as 21st-century citizens by fully utilizing the ingenuity and flexibility of technology. The emergence of telehealth over the past few years is a game-changer and we must invest in its full implementation in our school-based health clinics, nursing homes, healthcare centers, and hospitals. The potential growth of telehealth as an emerging job sector is nowhere near its peak. We must provide all medical professionals with broadband access, equipment, and training to allow for continuity of care.

Lack of telehealth services hamper medical professionals from communicating with patients and families as a method to alleviate emergency room strain. The inability to monitor a loved-ones status causes immeasurable grief. We must integrate telehealth more deeply into our healthcare system to keep people out of hospitals and help them stay on track with their annual physical, other medical appointments, and maintenance medicine.

As my colleagues and I strategically plan our way out of this convergence from an extended crisis, we will put forth a valuecentered budget that will honor the efforts of exhausted frontline medical workers. This is our call of duty and I implore all New Yorkers to take action.