Nurses leading the Way in Albany and Washington

the pandemic thrust nurses and other health professionals into the national spotlight, and NYSNA’s outspoken advocacy for the safety of our patients and communities has elevated our political profile to new heights.

Since the beginning, NYSNA has engaged elected officials at all levels, spelling out what frontline caregivers need to protect ourselves and our patients.

laWmakers lisTen

elected leaders from long Island to Buffalo were eager to champion NYSNA’s legislative and policy program, joining town halls, showing up in the streets to fight cuts to essential services and keep hospitals open for care, launching innovative programs like a reusable elastomeric pilot project, and passing much needed policies like whistleblower protections and enhanced line-of-duty death benefits to protect frontline healthcare workers. NYSNA members were also called upon to provide key testimony when legislators in Albany evaluated the state’s response to the first CoVID surge in both nursing homes and acute care hospitals.

aT The balloT box

of course, too many elected leaders in Albany and Washington were unwilling to take the bold action required to protect caregivers and our communities, which is why NYSNA was heavily engaged in both the June primaries and the November general election. NYSNA members got out the vote in several priority electoral races, partnering with labor and communitybased organizations to talk to voters on the street and organize virtual phone banks and text banks to get out the vote. partnering with National Nurses united, NYSNA nurses reached out to approximately 200,000 voters in battleground states this fall.

We helped elect nurse and patient champions who will move a bold

NYSNA leaders host a town hall meeting with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, so she can hear firsthand what’s happening on the frontlines.

agenda to protect the public’s health and help heal the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. And we mobilized before and after November 3rd to ensure that every vote was counted and democracy prevailed.

As a result, we are already seeing our priorities move on the federal and state level, with the new Biden-Harris administration prioritizing CoVID relief and the state legislature taking up safe staffing legislation.

New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams launches our joint elastomeric respirator pilot project in front of the Brooklyn Hospital Center. From top: U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer joins healthcare workers pushing to keep Montefiore Mt. Vernon open for care. Jamaal Bowman, elected to Congress in November, joins Sen. Schumer, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, and state Senator Jamaal Bailey standing with NYSNA leaders at Montefiore Mt. Vernon. NYSNA leaders march November 7th to ensure every vote is counted.