Communications Department Report Communications is an organizing tool. In the context of labor organizing, it is a tool to amplify the interests, concerns, and needs of working people. Communications is also a means of highlighting the gap between what employers say and what they do. NYSNA is proud to have a robust communications department which consists of a press secretary, communications manager, graphic designer, interim communications director and communications coordinator. Each member of NYSNA’s Communications Department values the sacred responsibility they share in amplifying the voices of healthcare professionals. This past year, the team worked to advance: l Safe Staffing. l Better contracts. l Action on the climate crisis. l Racial justice. l A Universal Healthcare System where
healthcare is seen as a basic Human Right. The team employed a host of tactics to further NYSNA’s work, including: l Developing and distributing press
releases and press advisories. l Publishing the New York Nurse
magazine. l Creating logos for NYSNA campaigns
and events, including the 2021 Convention.
Convention 2021 Logo
l Investing in paid advertising to detail
what was at stake during contract fights. l Developing and deploying graphics,
memes, and other content for social media. l Organizing press conferences
featuring NYSNA members. l Facilitating email and digital outreach.
For instance, in 2021, the department sent close to 1000 e-blasts, including messages to members (such as Weekly Updates and the digital version of New York Nurse), correspondence around legislative and political advocacy, practice alerts and facility updates. l Earned media coverage. NYSNA’s
communications team landed a series of frontpage stories or in-depth
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2021: We are one
Daily News, 11/15/21
features in 2021 including a March 12 story in Gannett publications titled, “Montefiore expansion into Hudson Valley reinforced racial disparities, NY nurses claim,” a November 15 feature in the New York Daily News titled, “NYC nurses sound the alarm over ‘massive’ staffing shortages at hospitals amid COVID pandemic, plan protests,” and a November 18 story in the Poughkeepsie Journal that ran in Gannett publications across New York, “New York’s nurses have endured the unimaginable. Here’s how they’re still fighting COVID.”
social media NYSNA’s communications team also maintained a strong social media presence in 2021. In the past year, NYSNA’s posts reached over 600,000 people on Facebook, where we gained over 1.2k followers in 2021. NYSNA’s Twitter gained over 600 followers in 2021, bringing our total followers to 8,100. During a series of safe staffing actions throughout New York, over 60 elected officials, candidates, and allied organizations tweeted in support of nurses and the hospital staffing bills. NYSNA’s Instagram page now has 8,089 followers (including 1.6k new followers in 2021). The best performing post of the year was NYSNA’s statement on the CDC’s change in quarantine guidelines. The post received more than 5k likes and was shared more than 9.8k times via IG stories or person-to-person messages.
