NY Nurse Summer 2023

NYC H+H Nurses Fight and Win! p. 8

By Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN NYSNA President

We Are Leading From the Frontlines

Growing up with two daughters, Beyoncé’s music was inescapable in my house. I had a particular song of hers running through my head after seeing the NYC Health+Hospitals (H+H) / Mayorals Bargaining Committee and particularly the women of the Executive Council bring home a contract victory for pay parity and safe staffing. I was feeling so proud and inspired, I was singing, “Who runs the world? Girls!” I’m sure many members had their own girl power or people power anthems running through their heads when they heard the good news.

Advocating for patients. Advancing the profession.SM

Board of directors

President

Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN nancy.hagans@nysna.org

f irst Vice President Judith Cutchin, , DNP, RN, MSN judith.cutchin@nysna.org

s econd Vice President Marion Enright, RN marion.enright@nysna.org

s ecretary

Nella Pineda-Marcon, RN, BC nella.pineda-marcon@nysna.org

treasurer

Jayne L. Cammisa, RN, BSN jayne.cammisa@nysna.org

d irectors at Large

Marie Boyle, RN, BSN marie.boyle@nysna.org

Seth B. Dressekie, RN, MSN, PMHNP, BC seth.dressekie@nysna.org

Flandersia Jones, RN, BSN, MPH flandersia.jones@nysna.org

Michelle Jones, RN, MSN, ANP-C michelle.jones@nysna.org

Sonia M. Lawrence, RN, BSN sonia.lawrence@nysna.org

Benny K. Mathew, RN, MS, CCRN, CEN, SCRN benny.mathew@nysna.org

Ari Moma, RN, MSA ari.moma@nysna.org

Jean Erica Padgett, RN jean.padgett@nysna.org

regional d irectors

Southeastern Christopher Honor, RN, BSN,CAPA christopher.honor@nysna.org

Southern Aretha Morgan, RN, MSN aretha.morgan@nysna.org

Central Catherine Dawson,RN,CNOR,MSN catherine.dawson@nysna.org

Lower Hudson/NJ Margaret Franks, RN

Western Vacant

Eastern Bill Schneider, RN, CCRN bill.schneider @nysna.org

editor Kristi Barnes

e xecutive editor

Pat Kane, RN, CNOR

Executive Director

editorial offices located at: 131 W 33rd St., New York, NY 10001

Phone: 212-785-0157

Email: nynurse@nysna.org

Website: www.nysna.org

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ISSN (Print) 1934-7588/ISSN (Online) 1934-7596

©2023, All rights reserved

H+H/ Mayorals leaders were fearless throughout the campaign, especially in the final weeks of expedited mediation. I immediately thought about my teenage daughters and how inspired they would be by the example our H+H/ Mayorals nurses set and by this righteous fight and long-overdue win. I felt so proud to lead this union of healthcare professionals still mostly women who flexed their power and won.

It’s About respect

To me, this contract fight was about respect and believing in ourselves. It was about demanding respect to pay nurses fairly for the important work we do. It was about believing, as mostly women of color, that we don’t need to be limited by what others say we can accomplish.

They told us we could never win pay parity the pay disparity between the public and private sectors had grown too large.

They told us we couldn’t break “the pattern” of wage increases that other municipal unions accepted.

They told us that our public hospital system couldn’t afford to do better.

They told us we couldn’t win a great contract without striking and that, because the Taylor Law legally bars public-sector workers in New York from striking, we were out of luck.

We showed them that we don’t need luck, and we don’t need to limit ourselves. The H+H/ Mayorals nurses demanded pay parity that was the No. 1 issue in bargaining surveys. It was what our members

identified as the biggest barrier to retaining nurses and being able to deliver the safe, quality care that all patients deserve.

NYSNA nurses organized, mobilized, spoke out, took action and won. Our members put the city on notice and demanded better for ourselves and our patients. Winning pay parity, which H+H/ Mayorals nurses had not had since the 1990s, is proof of our hard work. It is proof that public-sector nurses are deserving of equitable treatment and our patients are deserving of equitable care. We forced H+H and the city to accept our shine. We believed, we persevered, we showed our leadership, and we won.

Leadership Inspires Leadership

This victory also had me thinking of our Convention theme this year, “Nurses Leading from the Frontlines.” NYSNA members are showing that when we assume our leadership role and demand a seat at the table, we advocate and win for our patients and profession.

Nurses in New York City’s private sector showed our leadership early this year by winning great contracts in the largest contract campaign in NYSNA’s history. The striking nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai captured not just the bosses’

attention but the world’s, giving courage to nurses and other union members to fight back. They won groundbreaking staffing enforcement language and inspired NYSNA members closer to home to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract.

one union, united To Win

North Country and Long Island private-sector members and Buffalo public-sector nurses showed their strength and leadership in their contract wins. And now New York City public-sector H+H/ Mayorals nurses picked up the torch and made history with their contract victory. I am looking forward to celebrating our leadership and our victories together at this year’s Convention!

When I became president of NYSNA in 2021, I pledged to make this one union not public versus private, not upstate versus downstate but truly one union for all nurses. At last year’s Convention, I remember seeing public- and private-sector nurses sitting together a first in my 30 years of being a NYSNA member. That was one small step toward becoming one union. The H+H/ Mayorals contract victory is the biggest step yet, and it demonstrates that we are one union, we are united to win, and we are leading from the frontlines!

Winning pay parity, which H+H/ Mayorals nurses had not had since the 1990s, is proof of our hard work. It is proof that public-sector nurses are deserving of equitable treatment and our patients are deserving of equitable care.

Pres. Hagans joins other Brooklyn nurses as well as elected officials at the Brooklyn Interregional meeting.

the Nurse Will (Not really) see You Now

Imagine: You are being admitted to the hospital for the first time.

The nurse who is asking you questions, assessing your condition and prioritizing your care is just a video image and a voice on a screen.

This scenario must be disconcerting for the patient, who may be fearful, in pain, or unable to focus or communicate well. For the nurse, who is not able to see the patient fully, take vital signs, or use all their senses and observational skills to make a proper assessment, their role in the admission process is more akin to a call center agent than a caring healthcare professional.

This is the scenario happening at NewYork-Presbyterian Cornell campus for both admissions and discharges, and administrators at the Columbia campus, where NYSNA registered nurses work, are proposing it.

At Mount Sinai, administrators gave NYSNA nurses a presentation about remote nursing. They have also raised over $100 million through private philanthropy to develop in-house artificial intelligence (AI) tools for patient care. Doctors are already using some of the AI-generated algorithms and predictive models for patient care.1

The hospital industry has been automating nursing and medical decision-making for years, reducing people to a list of symptoms which are then interpreted by technology that can be racially and ethnically biased and often excludes relevant details about an individual patient.²

sounding the Alarm

In a recent Washington Post article, the assistant director of nursing practice at National Nurses United, Michelle Mahon, sounded the alarm. She said, “If we believe that in our most vulnerable moments … we want somebody who pays attention to us, then we need to be very careful in this moment.”

We know the relational aspect of nursing, the connection between nurse and patient, is integral to patient health and well-being and relies on ongoing, in-person interactions.³

There is very little evidence that remote nursing or AI improves healthcare delivery. Mahon continued to say, “We do experiments in this country, we use the clinical trial, but for some reason, these technologies, they’re being given a pass. They’re being marketed as superior, as ever present, and other types of things that just simply don’t bear out in their utilization.”

The need to defend nurse practice and quality care is constant. When technology like electronic medical records (EMR) was introduced in the 2000s, administrators promised it would save money, save nurses’ time, and streamline patient care and documentation. Instead, EMR systems have been extremely expensive to implement, have increased nurses’ workloads and have had serious glitches that have endangered patients — all while enriching software companies.5

From confusing interfaces that don’t display correct patient information and can increase medical errors to orders not placed because systems don’t connect properly, the reality of EMR in healthcare has not lived up to the hype. Practitioners have added endless, depersonalized clicking to their workloads, taking them away from quality, individualized patient care at the bedside, and contributing to stress and burnout.

Defining our Future, Not Their Brave New World

By Pat Kane, RN NYSNA Executive Director

Technology is getting a pass because it is seen as a pathway to greater profits for healthcare corporations and Wall Street. That’s why the private sector is investing so heavily in the digital health market. Venture funding for digital health companies was a recordbreaking $29.1 billion in 2021. Comparatively, $14.9 billion was invested in 2020 and $8.2 billion invested in 2019.4

History Has a Way of repeating Itself

The use of telehealth and remote nursing has accelerated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clearly, healthcare executives have seen an opportunity in this crisis. Hospital administrators are enthusiastic about cutting human costs — no matter the cost to patients, so we know the use of technology like remote nursing and AI will increasingly intrude on our practice and potentially harm patient care.

Instead of addressing hospital understaffing by hiring, respecting and protecting more nurses, administrators could increasingly look to remote nursing and AI as shortterm fixes to the staffing crisis.

As a union of nurses and healthcare professionals, we must continue to monitor and fight back against trends in healthcare that could threaten our practice and damage quality patient care and health equity. New technologies should never be seen as magic bullets to fix our healthcare system and will never be able to replace the quality care of a skilled nurse at the bedside.

With new technologies also come new concerns about the negative impact to our practice and patient care. Clinicians and researchers who have studied the use of AI in healthcare are concerned it could reinforce and accelerate bias, not reduce it.

As researchers said in a 2020 study in Scientific American, “We can no longer move forward blindly, building and deploying tools with whatever data happen to be available, dazzled by a veneer of digital gloss and promises of progress, and then lament the ‘unforeseeable consequences.’ The consequences are foreseeable. But they don’t have to be inevitable.”6

As patient advocates on the frontlines of healthcare, nurses will be here to protect our patients and our practice — whatever the future holds.

sources:

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ technology/2023/08/10/ai-chatbotshospital-technology/

2. https://www.science.org/ doi/10.1126/science.aax2342

3. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/abs/pii/ S0029646509000462

4. https://rockhealth.com/insights/ 2021-year-end-digital-health-fundingseismic-shifts-beneath-the-surface/

5. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/ death-by-a-thousand-clicks/

6. https://fully-human.org/ wp-content/uploads/2021/01/HealthCare-AI-Systems-Are-Biased.pdf

New technologies should never be seen as magic bullets to fix our healthcare system and will never be able to replace the quality care of a skilled nurse at the bedside.”

erie County Medical Center Nurses Fought Hard for Workplace safety and a Fair Contract and Won

Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) and Terrace View Long-Term Care nurses in Buffalo celebrated a hard-fought victory in July 2023 after months of organizing for workplace safety and bargaining for a fair contract. This 583bed public medical center is one of Western New York’s main healthcare providers and is the region’s largest safety-net hospital.

We Demand Patient safety

Nurses at the facility consistently sounded the alarm to management about severe understaffing and the rising risk of workplace violence, but management often ignored or minimized their concerns. In December 2022, nurses took matters into their own hands and brought their outrage to the social media platform Tik-Tok after a nurse was left to care for 50 patients in ECMC’s comprehensive psychiatric emergency program (CPEP), the only behavioral health emergency department in the region and one of the largest units in New York. The Tik-Tok video went viral, and ABC 7, NBC 2, WIVB 4 and Nurse.org reported on it.

Nurses used the opportunity to shine a light on the issues they faced caring for patients without proper staffing or workplace safety measures. The Tik-Tok video and media coverage triggered a New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) investigation into CPEP, eventually forcing ECMC to submit a plan of correction after the NYSDOH found ECMC violated the hospital staffing committee law.

After this victory, ECMC nurses continued their push for safe staffing and workplace safety at the bargaining table and in the community. In May, they launched a visibility campaign that included digital ads and lawn signs as well as a community petition calling attention to management’s failure to address workplace safety. Even after multiple gun-related incidents and parking lot break-ins, the administration refused to provide nurses with an exact timeline for the installation of weapons detection systems and suggested that the

main entrances were not potential threats. Management even attempted to get nurses to give up their extra shift differential in exchange for the weapons screening installation a slap in the face to nurses and the community.

But nurses didn’t stop there they held a press conference on May 31 to speak out about their experiences with workplace violence, unsafe staffing and lack of management leadership. Spectrum News, WBFO Public Radio, WBEN Radio and WIVB Channel 4 News Buffalo covered the press conference.

After disappointing bargaining sessions in early June where management showed up late and came unprepared, nurses responded to management’s disrespect by confronting it directly. They held a march on the boss outside CEO Tom Quatroche’s office and once again used Tik-Tok to record management’s inaction, this time catching management watching cartoons in the office.

Breakthrough and Victory

After months of building public awareness of the workplace safety and staffing conditions that nurses and patients face, packing the room during bargaining sessions and mobilizing for a fair contract, nurses’ efforts paid off. Late on Monday, July 17, NYSNA nurses reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, which the overwhelming majority of nurses later ratified.

The new five-year contract includes wage increases of over 23% over the life of the contract, workplace safety measures, and

extra pay whenever the hospital does not meet contractual staffing ratios to improve safe staffing levels. The contract requires ECMC to purchase, staff and maintain weapons screening systems at four entrances to the hospital and Terrace View Long-Term Care.

The Power of our union

In addition, the contract includes a nurse apprenticeship program with up to $3,000 offered per semester for apprentice candidates to recruit and retain nurses from the Buffalo community as a longterm solution to improve staffing levels and patient care.

The resulting contract is a great victory for nurses and patients in Western New York, including some of Buffalo’s most vulnerable patients. The contract ensures nurses are compensated fairly, which will help recruit and retain enough nurses for safe staffing, and it will improve safety for both nurses and patients.

NYSNA Executive Committee member at ECMC, Lona DeNisco, RN, reflected on this hard-fought victory: “Our union never backed down from fighting for the safety of our patients and staff. We held administration to the fire and have won a strong contract with a nurse apprenticeship program to support retention and recruitment, respectful wages for our nurses, and workplace safety measures to keep ourselves and our patients safe. Nurses demonstrated that persistence will always break resistance, and that is the power of our union!”

ECMC nurses launched digital ads, put up lawn signs and started a community petition to gather support for their contract campaign.

The Tik-Tok video and media coverage triggered a New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) investigation into the CPEP, eventually forcing ECMC to submit a plan of correction after the NYSDOH found ECMC violated the hospital staffing committee law.

Universal Healthcare saves Lives

By Dr. Dave A. Chokshi

hen the COVID19 pandemic devastated New York City and the rest of the world in 2020, I was serving as a leader in our public hospitals and then as New York City’s health commissioner. I will never forget the overwhelming suffering, trauma and grief that patients, colleagues, and neighbors experienced. In the pandemic’s darkest days, many of us felt afraid and isolated emotionally and often physically from our loved ones. At other times, I gained strength from seeing how New Yorkers respond in a tragedy. We came together to protect one another’s health. We built a field hospital in a tennis stadium! We threw all our intellect and resources at mitigating the worst of the pandemic, including developing and deploying new vaccines and treatments to save lives.

As health commissioner, I made sure the latest public health information was reaching New Yorkers, and I was heartened that there was increased dialogue and understanding that an individual’s health and the health of the entire community are inextricably linked. It gave me hope that coming through the COVID-19 crisis, we could overhaul our broken healthcare system and move toward health equity.

SADLY, THE LESSONS I learned working in public health during the pandemic were not universal. As the pandemic entered a less acute phase, much of the infrastructure that was built to provide free and low-cost healthcare and much of the emphasis on protecting public health started to unravel. My argument to you is that we cannot accept this. We will dishonor the memory of all those we have lost if we simply snap back to the “before” times or ignore the impetus for change.

Instead of continuing to expand access to care, the end of the pandemic state of emergency in April

W2023 meant an estimated 8 million to 24 million people will lose their health coverage. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) got more people insured but those gains are constantly under attack, and some gains are being rolled back. In March, a U.S. District Court judge struck down the part of the ACA that provides no-cost preventive care for a range of services, such as cancer screenings. Members of Congress continue to try to thin the number of people eligible for Medicaid. We are moving away from universal health care and locked into old political arguments about who is deserving of health care and who should be excluded.

FEDERAL EFFORTS through the pandemic to strengthen our healthcare system have only strengthened some. COVID-19 aid boosted hospitals’ median operating margins to an all-time high of 6.5% in 2020 and 2021, but safety-net hospitals serving the most vulnerable communities are still struggling. Although New York City’s public and safety-net hospitals cared for a disproportionate number of lowincome New Yorkers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, those systems were underfunded, especially in early funding formulas that directed aid toward hospitals with higher Medicare populations. Public and safety-net hospitals continue to provide more than their fair share of uncompensated and undercom-

pensated care, despite “nonprofit” private-sector hospitals’ mission to provide “charity care” in return for tax-exempt status.

Let’s tell it like it is: Safety-net hospitals are effectively a subsidy for private hospitals because they care for more patients who are uninsured or on Medicaid, enabling private hospitals to recoup more lucrative margins from patients who are commercially insured or on Medicare.

The failure to fully extend healthcare coverage to all people and to fairly fund safety-net hospitals has dire human consequences. Health outcomes are worse and health inequities grow when healthcare is inaccessible. Care can become inaccessible due to cost. Despite state legislative efforts to rein in hospitals’ debt collection practices, many hospital systems continue to sue patients for unpaid medical bills The amount of medical debt in this country exceeds every other kind of consumer debt combined, and three-fifths of that debt is held by people who have health insurance.

CLEARLY, OUR healthcare system is not working for most people in the U.S., and it’s not only patients who are dissatisfied. It’s also doctors, nurses and other frontline staff who see the suffering up close and feel constrained and compromised in their practice because the financial considerations of hospitals and insurance and pharmaceutical companies are prioritized above patient care.

So, how do we stop the harmful, financially driven trends in healthcare and work toward a health system with community and caring at its center? I believe nurses, doctors, healthcare staff and patients can lead the way, because we have done it before. From the creation of Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA to progress on winning safe staffing, we have taken on powerful interests and made progress. We can also learn from the examples of every other industrialized nation that already has some form of universal health care.

We also have our own public health system in New York City as an example that we can strengthen and grow. NYC Health + Hospitals

(H+H) is the closest our country has to universal care, serving all patients regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status. In recent national rankings from the Lown Institute, NYC H+H ranked second overall in health equity, third nationwide in pay equity and fifth in community benefit out of more than 3,600 hospitals evaluated. NYC H+H also works hand-in-glove with the New York City Health Department, a world-class public health agency, to improve health at the neighborhood level. As a practicing physician at NYC H+H/Bellevue, I can tell you that our public system saves lives and prevents immense suffering each day and could do even more with adequate resources.

EACH OF US can share our own stories from the front lines, in our places of worship and around kitchen tables, to help shift the conversation toward healthcare as a fundamental human right. Together, we can also work on policies to galvanize momentum toward universal care. We can start by strengthening and fairly funding our public and safetynet hospitals, adding a public option to insurance exchanges, allowing currently ineligible individuals to buy into Medicaid or Medicare, or automatically enrolling individuals who are eligible but not enrolled.

It may seem like we are swimming upstream when it comes to achieving universal healthcare. But we have moved mountains before, especially during the pandemic. I remember when my nurse colleagues at Bellevue helped transform the waiting room of an endoscopy suite into a fully functioning intensive care unit within a matter of hours. And I am hopeful that, in the same way, we will make progress because so many of you are committed to caring for one another and, ultimately, fixing our broken health system for the long term.

Dr. Dave A. Chokshi is a physician at H+H/Bellevue Hospital and Sternberg Family Professor of Leadership at CUNY’s Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership. He previously served as New York City’s 43rd health commissioner.

NYC H+H nurses rally for health equity.

st. Catherine Nurses Delivered Another Victory for Long Island Nurses

After two Catholic Health System victories, St. Catherine of Siena nurses were ready to fight.

On the heels of contract victories at other Catholic Health System facilities — St. Joseph Hospital in April and St. Charles Hospital in June — St. Catherine of Siena nurses were inspired to fight and continue the winning streak for their patients.

Since negotiations kicked off at the end of June, nurses brought energy and mobilized for a fair contract at every turn by wearing buttons, lining up at bargaining meetings with about 100 nurses attending each session and reminding management how much nurses sacrificed throughout the COVID19 pandemic. They also printed signs and took pictures of their colleagues to send a clear message to management: “I’m ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract.” While they made some initial progress, nurses committed to holding firm until the hospital agreed to addressing the issues of safe staffing and respectful wages to improve the recruitment and retention of nurses.

“I’m ready to Do Whatever It Takes to Win a Fair Contract”

On July 26, almost a month into bargaining and tired of slow progress at the table, nearly 150 NYSNA nurses marched on the CEO, carrying a banner displaying the collection of pictures of nurses

committed to fighting and winning a fair contract. NYSNA union leaders entered management’s offices to demand progress in contract negotiations, while nurses, their children and allies chanted outside. The march, which Newsday covered, showed management that nurses were not backing down. In this Instagram video St. Catherine nurses reminded management they earn some of the lowest wages in Suffolk County and that asking for respectful wages means getting more nurses at the bedside. A few days later, despite making significant progress on several issues during bargaining, management failed to meet nurses’ demands in the two areas nurses vowed to prioritize: safe staffing and respectful wage, dashing nurses’ hopes of settling the contract before the July 31 expiration date. With their contract officially expired, nurses were ready to turn up the heat.

A Victory For Nurses And Patients

After the next bargaining session in early August in which management failed to offer proposals that met nurses’ and patients’ needs, an overwhelming majority of nurses at St. Catherine voted to authorize a strike. NYSNA nurses made it clear the vote was about fighting for safe nurse-to-patient ratios and the benefits and wages that will retain and recruit nurses at St. Catherine so they can provide the quality care Smithtown patients deserve. Newsday, News 12 Long Island, Smithtown Messenger

and Patch covered the strike authorization vote.

Nurses went back to the table Aug. 17, and after bargaining throughout the night, they finally reached a deal with St. Catherine of Siena hospital in the early morning of Aug. 18. The contract contains several victories including the main demands that nurses fought for from the beginning. The contract brings base salaries in line with other Long Island hospitals and provides wage increases of more than 23% over the life of the contract, finally providing the respectful wages St. Catherine nurses deserve. The hospital also agreed to safe staffing ratios and expediated staffing enforcement language to ensure nurses could provide quality patient care. Nurses also won Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day as premium holidays, increases to all differentials, a four-hour on-call pay minimum, float pay and incentive pay, an increase to retiree health benefits and more! Nurses ratified their contract by an overwhelming majority on Aug. 22. The ratification was covered in Newsday, Patch, and Becker’s Hospital Review.

Long Island Nurses Are on a roll!

St. Catherine Nurses vowed to do “whatever it takes” to win a fair contract, and their organizing efforts clearly paid off. Long Island nurses, from Smithtown to Bethpage, have shown their strength by mobilizing and winning contract victory after contract victory for their patients.

St. Catherine of Siena nurses participated in facilitywide photo campaign to show their commitment to win a fair contract.

On July 26, nearly 150 St. Catherine of Siena nurses marched on the boss to demand progress in negotiations.

the state of safe staffing in New York

This summer has been marked by both progress and setbacks on safe staffing policy. In June, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) sent a “Dear CEO” letter to hospital executives reminding them that their staffing plans are due on July 1. The letter clarified that hospital administrators must submit plans for all inpatient units and gave an extended deadline of Aug. 15 to submit plans for all other units including outpatient.

Since the hospital staffing committees law passed in 2021 and committees were formed in January 2022, NYSNA nurses have pushed back and filed many complaints against hospital employers that tried to exclude certain inpatient and all outpatient units from the safe staffing committee process. The guidance letter from NYSDOH clarifies that the law applies to all inpatient and outpatient hospital units. This is great news to NYSNA nurses who have been pushing to establish and enforce safe staffing standards everywhere patient care is delivered.

staffing Victory!

In more good news, NYSDOH enacted the universal safe staffing ratio for critical care patients on June 29. When the hospital industry tried to water down this rule, NYSNA and other unions that represent nurses pushed back and ensured the 1:2 nurse-to-patient staffing ratio was included in the final regulation.

The regulation states there must be: “A minimum of one registered professional nurse assigned to care for every two patients that an attending practitioner determines to require intensive or critical care.” The ratio is dependent on the acuity of the patient, not the location. NYSDOH can now impose civil penalties on hospitals that fail to follow the law.

If your hospital exceeds the 1:2 safe patient standard, you can file a complaint with NYSDOH online at bit.ly/nystaffingcomplaint and document the incident using the NYSNA protest of assignment form, available at bit.ly/nysnapoa

This progress on staffing policy, combined with NYSNA members’ strong enforcement of staffing stan-

dards through contract actions like arbitration, is helping to keep more nurses and patients in New York’s hospitals safe.

Hospital resistance

Of course, it continues to be an uphill battle to hold employers accountable for safe staffing, whether using the staffing committee law or our contracts. Hospital administrators continue to make excuses for why they understaff in many facilities throughout the state.

In July, hospital administrators turned in supplemental staffing plans that removed specific safe staffing standards and replaced them with useless daily planned average numbers of nurses and patients, which violates the letter and intent of the staffing law. Hospitals also submitted pages of staffing data that made it nearly impossible to tell whether they were actually following through on their commitments to meet the safe staffing standards they set.

NYSNA has joined with 1199SEIU and CWA, the other major unions that represent nurses, to call on NYSDOH to enforce the law and hold hospitals accountable.

While NYSNA nurses are making progress on using the hospital staffing committee law to advocate for patient safety, we all can also work to strengthen the law and press NYSDOH to enforce it. This law is a stepping stone to winning universal safe staffing ratios, and NYSNA members should continue to advocate for improvements.

Nurses can ensure that staffing committee plans, and the actual staffing for each shift, are posted publicly in units, as required by law.

We can demand in staffing committee meetings to see employer staffing data, and we can report noncompliance to NYSNA and NYSDOH.

We should not lose sight of the national movement for safe staffing. Along with National Nurses United, NYSNA nurses are building power to pass federal nurse-topatient ratio legislation, as well.

We Are in It to Win It

Laws are only as strong as the people organized to enforce them. NYSNA members can continue to use the tools that we know work to track staffing and hold hospitals

accountable. We can file POAs and become staffing captains. Visit https://bit.ly/staffingcaptain to sign up. We can create a public relations crisis for facilities that blatantly understaff. Activism and reporting from the front lines have been essential in moving lawmakers and the public and in winning citations, grievances and arbitration awards.

NYSDOH cited Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) for violating the hospital staffing committee law after NYSNA nurses’ video of conditions in the comprehensive psychiatric emergency program went viral, sparking media and the attorney general’s attention. After the public attention, NYSDOH ordered ECMC to create a corrective plan for the unit that included hiring and staffing more nurses. Read more about ECMC nurses’ wins on page 4.

On Aug. 8, critical care nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital became the third group of Mount Sinai nurses to win a financial penalty payable to nurses due to chronic understaffing on their unit. Through diligence and hard work tracking staffing, nurses enforced the contract and incentivized Mount Sinai to spend money hiring full-time staff instead of paying fines. The arbitrator also directed the hospital to follow a safe staffing ratio of 1:2 and 1:1 for high-acuity patients, provide nurses with full meal and break periods, staff break nurses and hire more nurses to fill vacancies.

All our victories add up and become precedent and inspiration for other members ready to fight for safe staffing. Make no mistake: The fight for safe staffing happens on many fronts. As patient advocates, it’s a fight that nurses will take on again and again until we win safe staffing on every shift, on every unit, in every healthcare facility in New York!

l Requires healthcare employers to notify NYS DOL when exceptions to limitations on mandatory overtime are in use

l Strengthens enforcement with penalties for employers who abuse mandatory overtime

l Nurses file a complaint if their employer is violating the mandatory overtime law

For more information about the critical care staffing victory, visit our website: www.nysna.org.

Mount Sinai critical care nurses win arbitration award.

JUstice is HeaLtHcare JUstice

New York city Public-sector Nurses

n July 31, public-sector nurses in New York City won a contract with historic pay increases that put them on par with private hospital nurse salaries. This was a massive victory for NYC Health+Hospitals (H+H)/ Mayorals members, who are mostly people of color serving an underserved patient population largely uninsured and underinsured Black and brown patients.

The crisis of low pay and understaffing

NYC H+H/Mayorals members took the issue of pay parity headon in their contract fight. They identified the large and growing pay disparity between public- and private-sector nurses as the main reason for the high turnover and low staffing levels in public facilities. After making steady progress on safe staffing in their last contract three years ago, including winning ratios for the first time, they set their sights on pay parity to recruit and retain enough nurses to achieve those safe staffing levels in practice.

NYSNA Director at Large and President of NYSNA’s NYC H+H/ Mayorals Executive Council Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, said: “We were hemorrhaging nurses, and we needed to level the playing field. So many public-sector nurses are dedicated to H+H’s mission of caring for all New Yorkers, but we can’t take care of our patients if we can’t take care of

ourselves. What used to be a salary difference with the private sector of about $14,000 a year grew to nearly $20,000. That was too much incentive to leave the public sector.”

Low pay was harming retention and quality patient care. Through information requests and public testimony, nurses highlighted that H+H lost 2,000 nurses since the beginning of the pandemic, had skyhigh turnover rates and was filling 25% of nursing positions with costly temporary travel nurses. They testified about the negative impact all that had on patient care fewer nurses and less-experienced nurses were pushed to care for too many patients in all 11 public hospitals, in ambulatory care, long-term care, home care, jails and city agencies.

roots of the struggle

Pay equity, or pay parity with the private sector, is a matter of worker justice and racial justice. Many public-sector members were working multiple jobs to maintain a decent quality of life in New York City. The mostly Black, brown and immigrant nurses had had enough. They also saw the injustice that their patients, who looked like them, experienced due to understaffing. It was no accident that H+H nurses had originally won a pay parity clause in their contract in 1968, during an intense period of civil rights and worker rights

struggle. Mayor Rudy Giuliani suspended that pay parity clause in the 1990s during a period of disinvestment and attempted privatization of New York City’s public health system. As a result, the pay disparity between public- and private-sector nurses steadily grew to unjust and unsustainable levels.

As strong patient and social justice advocates, the nurses demanded health equity for their patients.

NYSNA NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council Secretary Kristle Simms-Murphy, RN, FNP, said: “We demanded fair funding for public and safety-net hospitals so that NYC’s public health system the largest in the country, the closest to universal healthcare, and the only one dedicated to caring for all patients regardless of immigration status or ability to pay could not only survive but thrive.”

Nurses called attention to the public system’s vital role in saving New York during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and getting the city back on its feet. They highlighted the ongoing and critical role the public system plays in the pandemic, the mental health crisis and the asylum-seeker crisis.

From Martin Luther king Jr. Day to Black Women’s e qual Pay Day

The nurses ran an intense contract campaign, launching on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a

raciaL

NYC H+H nurses took a victory lap at the Labor Day Parade.

H+H/Mayorals Pres. Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, penned an OpEd with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Back at City Hall, members and Executive Director Pat Kane, RN, testified.

right a Historic Wrong

march on H+H’s downtown headquarters. During their speak-out and march on MLK Day, nurses held “I Am a Nurse” signs, a reference to “I Am a Man” signs that Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers held during their struggle for fair pay and safe working conditions in 1968.

In February, H+H/Mayorals members co-hosted a health equity forum with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams that brought together nurses, doctors, community advocates and faith leaders to discuss how to strengthen the city’s public health system to achieve health equity.

On March 2, the day their contract expired, nurses at nine public hospitals held rallies and candlelight vigils alongside elected officials and community leaders. Later that month, they testified at a City Council budget hearing, pressing the city to release full data on nurse vacancies, turnover and use of expensive temporary travel nurses. They also held a press conference with legislators at the state capitol in Albany to call for fair hospital funding.

In April, members testified at H+H annual meetings, and on May 10, hundreds rallied in Foley Square with the Rev. Al Sharpton to demand equity. They called on Mayor Eric Adams to do the right thing, and they highlighted the outrageous amount of money H+H was spending on temporary travel nurses. Based on limited data that H+H provided, NYSNA research made its first estimate of how much H+H spent in 2022 on temporary nurses over one-half billion dollars and nurses headed back to City Hall to testify.

show us the Money

The focus on this temp agency data proved valuable. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander demanded a full accounting of the costs of temps and the details of the contract H+H signed with Rightsourcing, a for-profit, privateequity firm supplying temporary nurses. With this information, NYSNA was able to show that the public system that cried poverty and constantly told nurses they

should be satisfied to do more with less had actually spent billions on temporary staff.

Temporary nurses were earning nearly 3.5 times what staff nurses were earning, including all fringe benefits. We had evidence that it was costing the city too much to keep nurse pay so low. We were able to build more pressure on the mayor and the city by showing that doing the right thing and settling a fair contract was a matter of racial and economic justice, and it was also a matter of fiscal responsibility at a time when the city budget was under a microscope.

Nurses e scalate the Fight

With the budget deadline approaching at the end of June, NYC H+H/Mayorals nurses escalated their campaign for a fair contract. They braved an air-quality alert to rally and sit in at H+H/ Bellevue on June 7. The next week, they were back at Jacobi making their voices heard with more direct actions. Then H+H/Lincoln, Kings, Elmhurst, Queens, and Harlem nurses picked up the torch and spoke out at their facilities, at times facing down intimidation by H+H administrators and hospital police.

H+H/Mayorals nurses refused to stay silent. Three members wrote opinion editorials in New York City’s daily newspapers, and they earned consistent media coverage of their actions, helping to build public and political support for their campaign. Elected officials posted encouraging messages on social media and even participated in a “wear red” day of action in solidarity with the nurses.

Down to the Wire

The pressure paid off. The city agreed to enter expedited mediation to settle the contract. In July, the Executive Council members started a grueling bargaining schedule, with the Bargaining Committee having their backs every step of the way.

The last day of bargaining was July 28, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, so named because it takes Black women seven extra months into

2023 to earn the same pay that white men earned in 2022. Soon after, on the eve of the deadline we had given the city to settle the contract, the arbitrator came back with a binding award that the city was forced to follow. In short, the arbitrator agreed that NYSNA nurses were entitled to pay parity and safe staffing!

A Historic Contract

The total contract package, which 99% of members voted to endorse, includes a binding arbitration award for pay parity and safe staffing, several agreements to improve nurse retention and work life, and the creation of a citywide nurse float pool to improve staffing and reduce the overreliance on expensive temporary travel nurse contracts.

H+H/Mayorals members won the largest pay increase in publicsector nurse history. They broke through to win a 37% pay raise over 5.5 years, including a more than $21,000 pay equity bump in the first two years of the contract to make them competitive with private-sector nurse salaries.

Alizia McMyers, RN, MSP, and vice president of NYSNA’s H+H/ Mayorals Executive Council, said: “We refused to back down, even when we heard from naysayers that we were asking for the impossible. All things are possible when we have a collective belief. I am so proud of what we accomplished for our patients and our profession.”

Throughout, nurses kept the focus of their contract fight on racial justice and health equity. By keeping their eyes on the prize, they ended up righting a historic wrong.

Rev. Al Sharpton expressed his solidarity with public-sector nurses at our rally at Foley Square.

Jacobi nurses rally outside after staging a sit-in.

NYsNA Celebrates the reintroduction of the New York Health Act

On July 7, NYSNA nurses joined union colleagues from CIR-SEIU, bill sponsors State Senator Gustavo Rivera and Assembly Member Amy Paulin, and community allies to celebrate the reintroduction of the New York Health Act!

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, spoke about her own experience as a nurse: “I have seen patients suffer because they didn’t have health insurance, so they didn’t get the care that they needed. I have also seen patients who have health insurance suffer because they could not afford the cost of the high deductibles and co-pays, so they also didn’t get the care that they needed. It’s time to pass the New York Health Act!”

The movement for universal healthcare was reinvigorated with nurses ready to lead until the New York Health Act becomes law in New York!

Meet NYsNA’s Newest Board Member, Christopher Honors, rN

Get to know NYSNA’s newest board member, Southeastern Regional Director Christopher Honors, RN. Honors is a cardiac catheterization laboratory nurse at Peconic Bay Medical Center at Northwell Health in Riverhead on Long Island and has been a nurse for 23 years.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about being a nurse?

A: My favorite thing is that I have been able to work in many different disciplines as a nurse. You never have to stay in one place. When you want to try something new, there’s always a new challenge for you because patient care is always going to be the same when you enjoy taking care of patients. It’s great to be able to switch to a different unit and learn a new skill set. I’ve worked in many different settings, and that’s

what steered me into nursing the ability to care for patients. I still love it after 23 years.

Q: What’s your favorite unit?

A: I have to say the cardiac cath lab where I am now has been my favorite unit. But honestly, my first job as a NYSNA nurse was when I was a medical intensive care unit nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan. That’s where my heart was, and it’s still heartbreaking that the hospital closed. I have a lot of great memories of a wonderful place where we gave wonderful care to our patients.

Q: What are your priorities as a board member?

A: Personally, I want to have better work-life balance. But in my position as a member of the board of directors, my goal is to get a fair contract for our membership at our

NYsNA Nurses Push ellis Medicine to Invest in Nurses and Patient Care

NYSNA nurses from Ellis Medicine’s Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Women’s Center have been working with an expired contract since February 2023. Nurses are fighting for safe staffing, workplace safety and a fair contract. Management, however, has disrespected nurses by proposing and then withdrawing proposals from the table, proposing a decrease in staffing to cut costs, dismissing nurses’ concerns about workplace violence, and offering detrimental changes like pushing

nurses to accept a master contract to impose “flexibility” standards to float nurses across campuses at management’s whim.

Turning up the Heat

Slow contract negotiations and dismal proposals from management in the past few months have led Ellis Medicine nurses to turn up the heat and start publicizing Ellis Medicine’s track record of harmful practices. When Ellis Medicine launched an ad campaign saying, “We don’t hire employees, we invest

NYC Passes Bill to Make Hospital Pricing More Accessible and Affordable

Thanks to the advocacy efforts of NYSNA nurses and union members who form part of the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals, the Healthcare Accountability & Consumer Protection Act was passed and signed into law this summer! This bill will create a first-inthe-nation Office of Healthcare Accountability to protect patients from unfair hospital pricing.

NYSNA Executive Director Pat Kane, RN, testified in City Hall in support of the bill, saying, “We have a right to know how hospitals are pricing and profiting from their services so we can make sure they are putting patients before profits and truly serving our communities.” This is an incredible step forward in the fight for ensuring access to quality and affordable healthcare.

hospital.

It’s a very big year for Peconic Bay Medical Center because we have contract negotiations coming up since our contract expires at the end of the year.

This is a very big time for nurses overall because the pandemic really exposed a lot of disparities with many of the hospitals. I look forward to working with a wonderful staff of nurses; within our union; and, of course, with National Nurses United and really getting on board across the country for major contract victories. It really is an exciting time for nurses because they see what’s happening and how our voices can push for change.

in them,” NYSNA nurses responded by launching an ad campaign and website of their own, bit.ly/ellisfacts, exposing that the hospital’s actions show a different story.

Through the website and a public petition, nurses hope to bring public awareness to the potential consequences of Ellis Medicine becoming part of Trinity Health, one of the largest Catholic Healthcare Systems in the country and a company with a troubling history of putting profits over patients, closing services and citing religious views to deny reproductive health services.

Through this awareness campaign, nurses are forcing Ellis to put its money where its mouth is by holding the hospital accountable for claiming it invests in its employees while failing to negotiate a fair contract. Nurses are demanding that Ellis Medicine prove it will invest in its nurses and in patients’ safety by coming to the table in good faith. Ellis nurses are prepared to fight and will continue escalating until they obtain their most important demands: workplace safety measures, the funding of an apprenticeship program to recruit new nurses, and safe staffing ratios and enforcement language so they can provide the high quality care their patients deserve.

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, and NYSNA Director Margaret Franks, RN, BSN, rally in support of the New York Health Act.

around our union

NYsNa Nurses celebrate at interregional Meetings

throughout the summer, NYSNA nurses from Brooklyn (see photo page 2), Long Island, the Northeast Region, the Capital Region and Western

New York organized and hosted their own interregional meetings. Nurses celebrated recent contract victories, reported on the progress and challenges of ongoing negotia-

tions, and discussed the power of union solidarity among nurses! Members left with renewed energy to fight for their patients and the nursing profession in New York!

Utica Nurses from st. elizabeth and faxton st. Luke’s Vote to Join NYsNa!

the nurses at Mohawk Valley Health System’s St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton

St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica have voted for NYSNA to be their union! While we represented the members at St. Elizabeth, CWA represented the Faxton St. Luke’s registered nurses. As the facilities merge into one new hospital, Wynn Hospital, the two unions agreed to have the American Arbitration Association conduct an election. Although NYSNA was the smaller union, we won the election!

NYSNA will begin impact bargaining with the aim of winning a

arlington school district ratifies New contract!

the Arlington Central School District nurses unanimously ratified their three-year successor agreement on June 29. Nurses won significant salary increases throughout the course of the contract. Nurses also will no longer be required to use benefit time for three days of leave for the death of a family member, and there is now a contractual requirement for developing a preceptor program for new hires with NYSNA nurses’ input. Congratulations, Arlington Central School District nurses!

great new contract with no givebacks. NYSNA welcomes over 500 members to our NYSNA family

and is ready to unite, fight and win for nurses and patients. Welcome, Utica nurses!

Victory for Gracie square Hospital Nurses

Nurses at Gracie Square Hospital, an affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian and one of the only psychiatric hospitals in New York City, won a fair contract that delivers safe

staffing and protects mental health services for their patients. Nurses organized by launching a community outreach campaign, held informational pickets, and voted overwhelmingly to authorize a

Welcome, Margaretville Hospital Nurses!

Nurses at Margaretville Hospital have united to join their nurse colleagues in the Westchester Medical Center System as the newest NYSNA members! Nurses organized to have a strong and effective voice in the decisions that affect their patients and profession. They announced their intent to unionize, and then on July 13, the hospital voluntarily recognized the union. Congratulations and welcome, Margaretville Hospital nurses!

strike to send a clear message to Gracie Square leadership they were unwavering in their commitment to safe staffing as a matter of nurse and patient safety. Shortly after the strike vote, nurses headed back to the table and reached an agreement in the early hours of Sept. 12. The contract, ratified on Sept. 15 by an overwhelming majority, includes additional staffing, enforcement mechanisms to maintain safe staffing levels, as well as wage increases on par with other NewYork-Presbyterian facilities.

Congratulations, Gracie Square nurses!

The latest members of NYSNA, Margaretville Hospital nurses!

NYSNA nurses from Long Island, the Capital and Northeast Regions celebrate at their interregional meetings.

Gracie Square Hospital nurses participate in an informational picket.

references

1. Workplace Violence in Nursing. ANA.

2. Mandowara K, Leo L. One-third of US nurses plan to quit profession, survey shows. Reuters. Published May 1, 2023.

3. NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, Summary of Incidents Reported as Workplace Violence 2018-2022. For links to articles cited, please visit NYSNA’s website for digital version of NY Nurse.

efficacy of Workplace Violence Controls

By NYSNA Health and Safety Interns Jessica Rodriguez and Nicholas Redmond

Workplace violence is becoming increasingly common in the United States, especially in the healthcare setting. In 2019, 1 in 4 nurses reported being assaulted in the workplace.1 In 2023, 63% of nurses cited safer working environments as a necessary change to reduce stress in the workforce.2 Assaults that nurses experience often result in injuries and lost workdays some injuries so severe they force nurses to leave the profession altogether. In response to this persistent problem, many hospitals have implemented various controls, some more effective than others. Three specific noteworthy controls are weapons detection systems (WDSs), ancillary staff such as behavioral health associates, and personal panic alarms.

keeping Weapons out of our Hospitals

Following a string of highprofile shootings across several New York hospitals including NYC Health+Hospitals Jacobi Medical Center, Westchester Medical Center, Albany Medical Center and Bronx Lebanon (now BronxCare) some hospitals are implementing WDSs. These systems are more advanced than metal detectors and use artificial intelligence to specifically identify weapons. This concession has been hard won by nurses who have lobbied for weapons screening for years.

Although nurses’ opinions on the WDSs vary widely from hospital to hospital with some worried about the aesthetics of these systems the consensus is that they serve as good deterrents to people bringing weapons into hospitals. However, enforcement of these

systems is a major issue. At most hospitals with WDSs, there is at least one entrance that does not have the system. As a result, nurses have seen patients with weapons in the hospital. Additionally, there is no uniform procedure for weapons screening across New York hospitals. Some facilities fail to search bags, even if flagged, perhaps due to security staffing issues.

Ultimately, the WDSs’ efficacy comes down to both enforcement and consistency. As for good news, nurses at Erie County Medical Center won language in their most recent contract that requires the hospital to place WDSs at all hospital entrances. This is certainly a step in the right direction when it comes to implementing WDSs more effectively.

Well-Trained staff to Deescalate

A workplace violence control that predates WDSs is the implementation of positions such as behavioral health associates (BHAs). Given that WDSs are not an all-encompassing deterrent of violence, especially the most common forms of violence, which are physical attacks with hands and feet, BHAs are an essential part of workplace violence prevention. These staff members are trained to identify patient agitation and intervene before the patient escalates. Similar to weapons screening, nurses’ opinions on the efficacy of these job titles vary from facility to facility.

At Jacobi Medical Center, we interviewed an adult emergency department nurse who spoke very highly of the BHAs there. This nurse claims that BHAs serve as peacekeepers in an otherwise chaotic emergency department. However, nurses at other facilities stated that their behavioral health staff in a similar position were not adequately trained to be effective. Perhaps due to the excellent implementation of its BHA program, Jacobi has seen a decrease of reported workplace violence incidents, from 112 in 2018 to 68 in the most recent full year of 2022, the only facility out of five examined to see a decrease.3 Jacobi poses a good example of what proper implementation of BHAs

and other ancillary staff may lead to: a decrease in workplace violence.

Calling for Help

Unlike the efforts previously mentioned, panic buttons are often reactive rather than preventative. At Montefiore Medical Center’s Moses Campus, some nurses are equipped with personal panic alarms. Nurses trigger these alarms if they find themselves in unsafe situations. However, there is no way to determine whether the alarm is functional or sufficiently charged without pressing it and triggering a response. Though these alarms are intended to make nurses feel safe, many nurses have expressed concern regarding the panic alarms’ functionality and reliability. And one reported that, when she did trigger the personal alarm, no one responded. Like many other facilities across New York, Montefiore Moses also has traditional panic alarms in place, such as buttons located beneath the nurses’ station, one-push emergency icons on the nurses’ computer and emergency dial buttons on phones.

Nurses’ Input Is e ssential

Although the implementation of these safety measures has varied in efficacy from hospital to hospital, they are still hard-won measures that hospitals can build on and improve. Nurses’ feedback is crucial to the success of these measures. Without their important input, these measures will, at best, fall short of their full potential or, at worst, harm nurses even further. Hospital management must listen to nurses and consider their evaluation and feedback on novel safety measures to make sure those tools are working as intended.

NYC H+H/Jacobi implemented weapons detection systems after a high-profile shooting.

A personal panic alarm

celebrating NYsNa and our communities

NYsNA President Nancy Hagans Leads New York City Labor Day Parade

NYsNA PresIDeNT Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, was honored to be the grand marshal of this year’s New York City Central Labor Council Labor Day Parade, which brings together union members from every sector of New York City’s labor movement. The theme of this year’s parade was “we organize, we rise,” and the spirit of optimism and solidarity was strong throughout the day.

Tens of thousands of union members marched down Fifth Avenue, with striking workers making their voices heard at the front of the parade. Pres. Hagans led the way proudly carrying a “NYC is a Union Town” sign, alongside Parade Chair and Amalgamated Transit Union Vice President Mark Henry, New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento and New York City Central Labor Council

President Vincent Alvarez, and New York’s ranking elected officials.

NYSNA members were joined by dozens of our National Nurses United siblings, who traveled from far and wide to join the celebration. The NYSNA and NNU parade contingent was big and bold, and they kept the party

NYsNA Celebrates Its Diversity

THIs suMMer, NYSNA participated in multiple parades celebrating the cultures of its diverse membership and patients.

On Labor Day, dozens of NYSNA members marched in the NYC Carnival, the largest celebration of West Indian heritage and culture in North America! Dozens of NYSNA nurses danced along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, spreading the message that we are proud to care for all of New York’s diverse communities and continue the fight for quality care for all!

Nurses marched up Fifth Avenue for the National Puerto Rican Day parade to celebrate the rich history and culture of Puerto Rico.

The cultural celebrations continue as Capital Region nurses and families participated in the Filipino Day Parade in Albany! Nurses celebrated Filipino independence and being part of a long tradition of fighting for their rights. Nurse Jen Cotanda, RN, highlighted the fight to unionize Albany Medical Center for safer patient care and better working conditions: “It was not only through learning my own history, but also through fighting through my union that I learned the importance and the power of coming together as a community and fighting for our rights!”

Earlier in August, NYSNA nurses also participated in the Dominican Day Parade in NYC. Together we celebrated Dominican culture and heritage in New York City with marching, music and dancing to showcase Dominican pride!

going after the parade at a celebratory reception and luncheon nearby.

NYSNA leaders

Pres. Hagans, Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, and Michelle Jones, RN, NP, spoke about NYSNA’s incredible year of victories for publicand private-sector nurses. Elected officials, including Attorney General Letitia James, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and Borough Presidents Vanessa Gibson, Antonio Reynoso, and Donovan Richards, and several New York City council members also spoke from the heart and congratulated NYSNA.

Erie County Medical Center

NYSNA nurses had a wonderful time celebrating Black joy and Black history at the Juneteenth Festival in Buffalo! Buffalo was one of the first cities to host a festival and parade commemorating the day the last enslaved African American people learned they were free following the Emancipation Proclamation.

NYSNA nurses and staff were out at the New York City Pride Parade, celebrating the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, the birthplace of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement. It was the world’s largest annual Pride march. With recent attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights and gender-affirming care, it’s more important than ever to show up in solidari ty and pride for LGBTQIA+ nurses and patients.

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans Leads New York City Labor Day Parade

extreme summer Weather, extreme Climate Activism

Climate change is a health crisis, and if there is one thing this summer has made clear, it is that climate change is no longer some abstract concept happening somewhere else. The Canadian wildfires turned New York City skies into an apocalyptic orange, causing New Yorkers to once again mask up to avoid respiratory issues. Deadly heat waves crashed across the U.S., and deadly flash flooding hit New York hard, leaving one person dead in the Hudson Valley. The flooding was reminiscent of the damage that Hurricane Ida caused downstate in 2021. Ida smashed New York City’s record for the most rainfall in a single hour, causing 13 deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

The human toll of climate change is the reason that NYSNA nurses have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change since 2012 when Hurricane Sandy descended upon New York, and they continue to do this critical work both domestically and internationally.

Climate Justice Is global NYSNA Board Secretary and Climate and Environmental Justice Committee Chair Nella PiñedaMarcon, RN, BC, was invited to join New York state elected officials and labor leaders in Denmark, a world leader in addressing climate change and building a strong, equitable clean energy economy.

Their goal was to explore green energy sites and talk with renewable energy experts, including companies looking to develop offshore wind projects on Long Island. The trip was financed by the new Climate Jobs Institute at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, which aims to ensure the jobs in the green economy are union jobs. Piñeda-Marcon was excited to discuss climate issues with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos and Assembly Labor Committee Chair Latoya Joyner and bring back information to better educate fellow nurses about the importance of sustainability and renewable energy on public health.

Think globally, Act Locally

NYSNA nurses are also leading the way on local initiatives for environmental justice and reducing deadly carbon emissions.

In New York City, the City Council passed a package of five lead bills that are waiting for the mayor’s signature. New York has more known cases of children with elevated blood levels than any other state, and nearly 70% of lead-poisoned children are from low-income, Black and brown communities. Marion Parkins,

RN, from NYC Health+Hospitals/ Harlem Hospital, passionately testified at a council hearing in April with our amazing ally, WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

Director at Large Flandersia Jones, RN, MPH, has been active lobbying and strategizing with NY RENEWS, a coalition of labor unions and climate and environmental justice groups. NYSNA has been a part of this coalition for many years, playing a critical role in passing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) in 2019. The CLCPA is one of the most aggressive laws in the nation regarding climate and clean energy, committing New York to 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040, no fossil fuels by 2050, and 40% of the state’s climate and energy funding for the most vulnerable communities. Jones has now been working with the coalition on the next steps in this fight, which is to pass meaningful legislation that actually funds the commitments made in the CLCPA.

While this summer will go down as the hottest in our planet’s history, nurses can work in coalition with other environmental and public health advocates to reverse this damaging trend. To advocate for our patients, we must advocate for our planet.

Nella Piñeda-Marcon, RN, BC, spoke at a climate summit in Denmark (top) and was a guest speaker on climate change at Rutgers University Labor School of Management and Labor Relations. (bottom)

Flandersia Jones, RN, MPH, advocated in Albany with NY RENEWS.

Make a difference: Volunteer in 2024

The New York Relief Network (NYRN) has a lot to celebrate this month. The organization reached another milestone in July, surpassing 20,000 patients and 765 passionate volunteers in 64 medical and educational missions.

Every month, volunteers make a tremendous positive impact on the lives of so many less fortunate communities that look for our team to alleviate their pain and concerns. NYRN volunteers have had the opportunity to grow as professionals and human beings and to better understand how they fit into the world around them.

Missions to Africa

One clear example of NYRN’s impact was during the recent medical missions to Ghana and Tanzania, where volunteers had the chance to spend time with differ-

ent ethnic groups in the faraway areas of Kumasi, Ghana, and Maruku and Bukoba, Tanzania. In Tanzania, NYRN volunteers delivered free medical attention and medication to benefit 1,139 people in rural, underserved areas. Volunteers immersed themselves in various communities and found themselves surrounded by caring, welcoming and appreciative people who embraced each and every one of the NYRN team members.

Benefits of Volunteering

According to a study by Volunteers Hub, it is statistically proven that people who volunteer regularly are physically and mentally healthier, decrease their likelihood of developing high blood pressure by 40% and have high morale. Another research by AmeriCorps reports that people who volunteer over 100 hours

Hot Labor summer solidarity With Workers on strike

the growing number of workers fighting for better working conditions and fair contracts has been fueling 2023’s Hot Labor Summer.

NYSNA members joined the SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild of America picket lines in solidarity with actors and writers on strike for a fair contract. Actors and writers are demanding a fair contract and are crying out against the unethical use of artificial intelligence and the huge inequity between executive pay and workers’ salaries.

Nurses on strike

Union nurses throughout the state and country are also fighting for fair contracts. NYSNA nurses supported fellow union nurses at Rochester General Hospital, represented by The Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals, who went on a two-day strike for patient care in August.

NYSNA nurses continue to join the picket line with nurses at Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, represented by United Steel Workers Local

4-200. Those nurses have been on an open-ended strike since Aug. 4.

In Texas and Kansas, National Nurses United nurses at three Ascension healthcare hospitals held a historic one-day strike on Tuesday, June 27. Over 2,000 nurses were on strike for safe staffing and safe patient care, making it the largest nurses’ strike in Texas and the first nurses’ strike in Kansas. Ascension healthcare network is one of the largest private healthcare systems in the country, and nurses are calling on the hospital system to put patients before profits.

When Workers Fight, We Win

NYSNA congratulates our Teamsters siblings who reached a tentative agreement with UPS on July 25, averting a potential strike. The UPS workers had set up practice picket lines across the country to build momentum. NYSNA nurses were out on the New York City picket lines in solidarity and joined the chorus of supporters in calling on UPS to settle a fair contract.

Nurses are encouraged by the surge of union activism and excited

a year are some of the healthiest people in the U.S., and that action enriched their sense of purpose in life.

NYSNA members who participate in NYRN medical missions say that the experience is unforgettable. One recent participant said, “The fulfilling feeling of helping those communities is unparalleled.”

Join a Medical and educational Mission

If you have not participated yet and want to make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of others, take a look at the 2024 medical mission calendar available at www.nysna.org/nyrn, and sign up to volunteer today.

to participate and support workers at upcoming pickets. Check out the AFL-CIO website for a map of picket lines you can join as well as other ways to support striking workers at https://aflcio.org/strike-map

NYSNA nurses support SAG-AFTRA members and Teamsters in their fight for better working conditions.

New Jersey’s Shore Medical Center NYSNA nurses joined Robert Wood Johnson nurses on the picket line.

NYRN volunteers take time out in Tanzania.

ECMC Nurses Fought Hard and Won, p.4

Pres. Nancy Hagans Leads Labor Day Parade, p. 13