NY Nurses April [All Regions]

nurse New York

New york state edition | april 2020

honoring our nurses

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New York Nurse april 2020

We are essential, not expendable

By Judy SheridanGonzalez, RN, NYSNA President

Advocating for patients. Advancing the profession.SM Board of Directors President Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN, MSN, FNP judy.sheridan-gonzalez@nysna.org First Vice President Anthony Ciampa, RN anthony.ciampa@nysna.org Second Vice President Karine M. Raymond, RN, MSN karine.raymond@nysna.org Secretary Tracey Kavanagh, RN, BSN tracey.kavanagh@nysna.org Treasurer Nancy Hagans, RN nancy.hagans@nysna.org Directors at Large Anne Bové, RN, MSN, BC, CCRN, ANP anne.bove@nysna.org Judith Cutchin, RN judith.cutchin@nysna.org Seth Dressekie, RN, MSN, NP seth.dressekie@nysna.org Jacqueline Gilbert, RN jackie.gilbert@nysna.org Robin Krinsky, RN robin.krinsky@nysna.org Lilia V. Marquez, RN lilia.marquez@nysna.org Nella Pineda-Marcon, RN, BC nella.pineda-marcon@nysna.org Verginia Stewart, RN verginia.stewart@nysna.org Marva Wade, RN marva.wade@nysna.org Regional Directors Southeastern Yasmine Beausejour, RN yasmine.beausejour@nysna.org Southern Sean Petty, RN sean.petty@nysna.org Central Marion Enright, RN marion.enright@nysna.org Lower Hudson/NJ Jayne Cammisa, RN, BSN jayne.cammisa@nysna.org Western Chiqkena Collins, RN chiqkena.collins@nysna.org Eastern Vacant Executive Editor Pat Kane, RN, CNOR Executive Director Editorial offices located at: 131 W 33rd St., New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-785-0157 Email: communications@nysna.org Website: www.nysna.org Subscription rate: $33 per year ISSN (Print) 1934-7588/ISSN (Online) 1934-7596 ©2020, All rights reserved

Two very important days just passed as we go to print: April 28 and May 1. Their significance cannot be understated in this current climate.

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pril 28 is Workers Memorial Day. In Canada it is commemorated as a National Day of Mourning. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO): l One worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide l 6,000 workers die every day l More people die while at work than those fighting wars I believe those statistics will be altered dramatically this year as a result of the virulence of COVID19 and our bosses’ total lack of regard for our lives, particularly those of us in the health field.

May 1st is May Day, known as International Workers Day, officially celebrated around the world by 66 countries, and unofficially, by many more. Its origins date to 19th century Chicago, honoring the Haymarket Martyrs who fought for the 8-hour day and safer workplaces. Ironically it is not “official” in the United States, its country of origin. But that is changing…America will never be the same, nor will the world as we know it. The Novel Corona Virus changed everything…

WHAT WENT WRONG? No cushion

The race to the bottom in health care by our Employers and Government set the stage for our total incapacity to manage a crisis. This occurred over years by reducing the number of direct care providers (such as nurses) while increasing administrators; closing hospitals, beds and services deemed as “unprofitable;” cutting Medicaid funding; “dumping” the uninsured and those with mental illness and disabilities to public institutions; and practicing “lean management” (“efficiency”=fewer workers and factory-style produc-

tion—more “output”), increasing agency staff, fragmenting care and constantly “reorganizing” or “restructuring”—a euphemism for layoffs.

Even worse in poor communities

This austere model squeezed workers and starved institutions that overwhelmingly cared for poor and working class communities. This downward spiral reduced many of our nurses to operate within the confines of bare bones staffing, overcrowding of patients, and crisis-like functioning.

When the pandemic hit, there was no cushion to lean on, nothing on hand to manage the influx of twice, three times the amounts of patients that we normally saw— many of them deathly ill, with no place to put them. The poorer the community, the worse the conditions.

Makeshift units and ICU “popups” materialized overnight, as nurses struggled to care for double, triple and quadruple an already burdensome workload. OR nurses were shifted to ICUs, procedure nurses and case managers were floated to unfamiliar areas and training—if any—consisted of two-hour modules and an orienta-

tion to where supplies were stored.

Employers used “the crisis” as an excuse to walk all over its own policies, our contracts and our staff.

No preparation, no science, no protection

The Government was sleeping, the CDC was compromised, hospital administration was like a deer in the headlights—and patients and front-line caregivers paid the ultimate price. All the indicators for surviving a pandemic were ignored.

What was done was too little, too late and our state, New York, became the epicenter of COVID-19 infection, with New Jersey in second place.

As chaos consumed us, we also had the double jeopardy of being unprotected. Infection Control Standards were tossed out the window and the “do the best you can” mantra that nurses are always subjected to, really meant “try to stay alive.” And some of us, sadly, tragically, UNNECESSARILY, did not stay alive. Many of us became ill.

All of us are emotionally scarred.

Our lives were torn asunder.

Fightback

So many nurses organized: individually, in units, as LBU leaders, as newly created Covid Action Teams, as activists in their own right and as a UNION. Many of our union staff worked around the clock, as did many of our members. To save lives—of our patients and ourselves—we had to organize like never before: in social distance rallies, email blasting, petitions, job actions, media domination, pressure on legislators and even in procuring our own PPE through the generous donations and work of our broader communities.

We also developed community and labor solidarity: there were other “essential workers who were being exploited—and dying—along with us. The most marginalized of our communities were facing starvation, eviction and worse. We recognized the need to stand together with all who were affected.

Little by little we demanded and received PPE—still not exactly what we need but way better than when we started. Financial, housing and other supports started trickling in as we struggled for Continued on page 11

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Honoring nurses: 58,950 recovered

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his year we commemorate National Nurses Week from May 6-12 in a solemn spirit.

We remember friends and colleagues who have died on the front lines of the enduring battle against Covid-19. We honor the courage and commitment of our nurses who report to work daily at great risk to their health.

There is good cause to celebrate our work. Here in New York, 58,950 patients, hospitalized with the COVID-19 infection, recovered.

Our fight for adequate PPE— and for all that's needed to protect ourselves and our patients—resonates in New York and around the country.

Standing firm in our determination

However, we cannot say enough about our government's lack of preparedness. There has been a lack of transparency overall, which allows for the substitution of politics for science, fiction over fact.

We will stand firm in our determination to address these critical shortfalls.

We look to the legacy of Florence Nightingale, one of the earliest pio-

neers of modern medicine, for inspiration as we continue our battle to set national priorities in the face of Covid-19, the world's deadliest pandemic in more than a century.

May 12 marks Nightingale’s 200th birthday. It is appropriate that we remember her work.

“The Lady With the Lamp”

Nightingale made it her mission to practice medicine during war and peace, serving rich and poor alike. Fearless and innovative, she earned the title “The Lady With the Lamp” on the frontlines of the Crimean War. In 1860, she opened the world’s first professional nursing school at St. Thomas Hospital, London, where she documented and facilitated the best medical practices of her day. That same year, Nightingale introduced trained nurses to the workhouse system. She utilized keen observational skills and her gifts as a mathematician to campaign for improved sanitary practices in India as a hedge against the high death rate caused by “bad drainage, contaminated water, overcrowding and poor ventilation.”

As we continue our fight against Coronavirus, we honor Florence Nightingale’s spirit. We bring our considerable knowledge, resources and training to defend the sick and dying against an illness that does not discriminate by race, class, or country of birth.

Like Nightingale, as practitioners of state of the art medicine, we assert our right to a place at the table.

We have a right to know every detail of the battle.

We have a right to a seat where key strategy is reviewed, determined, and resources committed.

We have a right to demand that healthcare resources be allocated according to patient need and not to the highest bidder.

The inequalities that defined healthcare prior to COVID-19 are exacerbated by today's crisis.

Nurses will not stand for that.

We will continue to save patients in the weeks and months ahead, insisting that efforts to reduce staff exposure be maintained and our hospitals be better equipped.

We are making our voices heard.

New Political Director Michelle Crentsil “I’ve learned about, witnessed, and experienced injustices firsthand. Whether they’ve been big or small injustices, I’ve often found the courage to speak out against what I knew was wrong.

But I’ve only felt powerful enough to actually change things as part of a movement.”

– Michelle Crentsil

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orn in Philadelphia, raised in Chicago and Los Angeles before the family settled in Louisville, Kentucky her mother’s hometown, Michelle Crentsil joined NYSNA as Political Director on March 24, after working as a criminal justice reform advocate and as the pandemic arrived New York. Michelle’s mother is a retired RN after nearly 40 years in the field; her father, from Ghana, an active union dad worked for Louisville’s public health department and as a Navy reservist. She graduated Harvard

University, awarded a degree in Black Studies and Women’s Studies, where she was also a labor activist and welfare rights activist, working to better the lives of security guards and dining hall workers on campus and their surrounding communities. She was on the ground for Occupy Wall Street, working with other labor organizers and social justice activists. She’s organized airport workers for Local 32BJ/SEIU at Newark and LaGuardia airports (“airports campaign was a big one”) and was on staff for the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU. Like all of us, she is new to pandemics, but she’s not new to hospitals or the labor movement. We are very fortunate to have her.

“We’re facing some the most challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s an incredible urgency to save lives and protect the vulnerable. There’s also an opportu-

Michelle Crentsil

nity for frontline nurses to leverage their collective power and lead a movement to invent a better future for healthcare in our society. I feel there’s no better time to support nurses who are fighting for a healthcare system that cares for us all.”

– Michelle Crentsil

By Pat Kane, RN, NYSNA Executive Director

Florence Nightingale statue, London

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New York Nurse april 2020

How to Move New York Forward

What Frontline Nurses Need Before New York Reopens Nurses have been on frontlines in this crisis. We’ve seen firsthand just how deadly COVID-19 can be.

Despite our repeated warnings, public health officials and elected leaders were unprepared for this pandemic. We can never let that happen again.

Here are some of the things New York must to do to move forward and reopen. Anything less means we’re likely sacrificing thousands more New Yorkers to this deadly disease.

Fortifying the Frontlines New York’s healthcare system was woefully unprepared for this crisis. Before we can move forward, our hospitals and nursing homes must be on stronger footing.

Science Sets the Standard: We are only beginning to understand SARS-CoV-2, but we know that we cannot go back to the way our hospitals operated before. We must establish a new normal—where safety, not efficiency or expediency, drive decision-making. The continuing risk of airborne and contract transmission require COVID-19 standard precautions, including respiratory protection for any staff member coming in contact with the public, along with masks and strict screening measures for incoming patients, family members, or anyone else coming in the building.

Enhanced PPE: Every hospital in the state must adopt enhanced conventional capacity guidelines and begin the migration to reusable equipment, including fit-testing for all respirators. Stockpiles must be built up, so healthcare workers aren’t left unprotected during the next outbreak.

Essential workers must also be protected, it’s not enough for healthcare workers to get PPE if there is rationing for transit workers, grocery clerks, factory workers, or delivery drivers.

Universal Testing: Lack of protections have turned nurses, along with other essential workers, into a transmission vector for this virus. We need on-demand rapid-result diagnostic testing for all frontline workers. All incoming patients and hospital visitors should also be tested. Once accurate antibody tests are widely available they may be useful for epidemiological purposes, but antibody tests cannot be used to send workers back to work, or worse, to ration their PPE.

Time to Rest and Recover: Nurses have been fighting this virus with everything we’ve got and many have fallen ill. Healthcare workers, whether symptomatic or COVID-positive, must be provided the internationally recognized two-week quarantine or isolation period. We must

also be able to access the paid sick time benefits available to all New Yorkers, and more if required. Regular hospital schedules must be restored, including extra paid time off for those who’ve been on the frontlines.

Ongoing Accommodations: At-risk healthcare workers must receive the protections they need to safely provide patient care, or be provided alternative assignments. We must continue to provide housing and other supports required to protect at-risk family members.

Transparency and the Right to Know: Nurses and other healthcare workers have a right to know what risks they’re facing when they report to work. Hospitals must be transparent with workers and the public, reporting essential information such as how many COVID-positive patients they are treating, levels of PPE inventory, ongoing plans for screening and cohorting, and the number of staff who’ve been exposed to or gotten sick from COVID-19.

Restoring Elective Procedures Responsibly: Hospitals are chomping at the bit to restart lucrative elective procedures. But generating revenue cannot come at the expense of the health and safety of frontline healthcare workers. Elective procedures must be phased in only as the COVID-19 census falls, and suspended automatically if it starts to rise. We must ensure all patients are tested 24 hours prior to admission and that COVID-specific standard precautions are instituted for operating rooms and labor and delivery. The state should also ensure hard-hit safety net hospitals are not further financially disadvantaged, as they will be among the last to be able to restore elective procedures.

Safe Staffing Across the State: Hospitals cut staffing to the bone before COVID-19 and our patients paid the price when the pandemic hit. Going forward, we need far more staff to protect our patients, and we need the same staffing standard in every hospital. With over 19,000 fatalities statewide, and an imminent risk of outbreak in

NEW YORK NURSE april 2020

every community, no hospital can justify layoffs or other reductions in the healthcare workforce.

Maintain Surge Capacity: New York will see another wave of COVID-19 and we need to be prepared. While many facilities will need to lower their current bed capacity in order to restore suspended services, we can maintain surge capacity with a moratorium on hospital closings and the reactivation of shuttered units. New York must maintain enough hospital beds and adequately trained staff for repeated outbreaks—this is not a one-time event.

Build Back Better: This crisis has revealed significant shortcomings with our healthcare infrastructure. We need

major improvements to hospital plant and equipment, including HVAC upgrades to improve ventilation, along with other engineering controls that are supposed to be our first line of defense against workplace hazards. The state must provide full funding, particularly for the safety net hospitals hardest hit by the pandemic.

Coordinated Purchasing Pools: The governor has repeatedly claimed we’re operating as “one system” throughout this crisis, but hospitals have been in a needless bidding war for PPE and other critical supplies. The state must take a central role in coordinating purchase and distribution of PPE, to ensure supplies are delivered where they are most needed, not to the hospital with the most resources.

Centering Our Response on Hardest Hit Communities COVID-19 has laid bare the deep economic and racial disparities in our state’s healthcare system. We cannot move New York forward without recognizing and beginning to rectify them.

Addressing Racial Disparities: African Americans and Latinos are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white New Yorkers. Reversing these longstanding inequalities must be a central focus as we move forward, and state lawmakers must prioritize funding for significant new healthcare infrastructure in hardest hit communities.

Fixing Healthcare Funding: We can’t protect patients by slashing healthcare funding. We must restore the $2.5 billion in Medicaid cuts in next year’s state budget, and

finally fix our Medicaid funding formulas to allocate resources based on need. Safety net hospitals have borne the brunt of the COVID crisis, and they should receive a disproportionate share of state Medicaid funding. These hospitals must also receive extra assistance, given that they will be among the last facilities to re-open elective procedures.

Real Accountability for the Public’s Health: For too long hospital administrators and elected officials have sidestepped responsibility for addressing the urgent health needs in our communities. We cannot return to a healthcare system where your zip code determines your life expectancy.

What we do in New York’s historically underserved communities will be the yardstick by which we measure our progress.

Safeguarding Every New Yorker Our first priority must be the public’s health, and New York can’t move forward until we can protect every New Yorker.

Everyone In, Nobody Out: With over a million New Yorkers out of work we need to make sure they can get the care they need during this pandemic. The New York Health Act would provide universal healthcare for everyone in the state, and lawmakers must take the first steps in that direction by paying for all COVID-related healthcare costs for unemployed, uninsured, underinsured, or undocumented New Yorkers.

Protecting Public Health with Testing and Tracing: New York cannot reopen until we’ve got the tools we need to stop another outbreak. This requires widespread COVID testing—far beyond our current goal of 40,000 tests

While we’re relieved to see

per day—so we can identify and isolate infected residents.

We also need thousands of contact tracers working for the state to uncover exposures and avoid runaway infection.

No State Budget Cuts to Vital Services: There is no precedent for the economic and social impact of this pandemic. New York must provide enhanced unemployment insurance, expanded health care coverage, even food and shelter for New Yorkers in need. And the federal government must unlock whatever resources are needed to maintain vital programs and offset the economic dislocations from COVID-19.

Austerity is not an option. If federal response is inadequate, the state must raise the necessary revenue, starting with Wall Street and big corporations. New York’s billionaires and millionaires must also pay their fair share.

Once we lift emergency measures and people begin hospitalizations declining in many parts of the state, to return to work or gather in public there will be this does not mean the COVID crisis is over or that it more outbreaks. We can also expect a second or even third wave coinciding with flu season. It’s not a is safe to reopen. question of whether but when.

There is no vaccine, and we don’t know if or when n January, as we witnessed the deadly progression one will be widely available. The virus hasn’t of COVID-19 around the world, we sounded the become less contagious or less deadly while alarm to New York’s hospitals. Then, in early March, our leaders spoke at a news conference, citing New York has been “on pause.”

government inaction in matters of the public’s health—in particular the Trump administration’s denials and delays, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

And for the last two months nurses and other healthcare workers have borne witness to this preventable tragedy.

That is something we cannot—we will not—allow.

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New York Nurse april 2020

Around the state 9

NYSNA

nurses helped save the lives of 58,950 COVID-19 patients, according to the data of May 3, 2020. Against the odds, nurses persevered in very difficult con-

ditions and, while the number of patients who died from the virus is substantial—19,189— many lives were saved, and the work of saving lives continues.

Community support is strong for Long Island nurses

N “Reusing masks and gowns goes against everything we have been taught as nurses.”

Tammy Miller, RN

YSNA’s “Protect Our Direct Caregivers with Proper PPEs Vigil” took place at Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown on April 23, demanding more PPE and better staffing to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Long Island community came out to support them.

Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim, Smithtown Town Clerk Vincent Puleo, and leaders from the Nesconset fire department and Plumbers Local Union #200 all were there to show solidarity with the nurses. What’s more, the All Hands and Hearts organization, OK Petroleum, Smithtown Elected Officials, and the Rengel family took the opportunity to present frontline staff with substantial donation of PPE. Sub-standard care guidelines

“We appreciate all the community support,” said Meg Comparato, RN. “In times like these, it has been so important to have union support standing with us. We as a society would never send our police and fire personnel to work without

proper gear, why did the [New York State Department of Health] DOH and our employer downgrade the guidelines so much as to put nurses in harm’s way?”

What Comparato, fellow nurses and public health experts have questioned is why the Centers for Disease Control set guidelines on a “crisis” level, allowing for re-use of N95s and allowing the New York

State Department of Health to do the same. This resulted in sub-standard care guidelines.

“Coming to work should not be a scary thing,” said Tammy Miller, RN, Chair, NYSNA Executive Committee. “Reusing masks and gowns goes against everything we have been taught as nurses. We do not have the proper PPE needed to protect ourselves and our patients from cross contamination. As direct care providers, we need to be protected and stay healthy so we can continue to care for these patients.”

The previous week, local first responders paid tribute in New Hyde Park to Parker Jewish Institute for Healthcare and Rehabilitation’s front line healthcare workers battling the pandemic as they finished their shift.

Paying tribute were members of FDNY Engine 251, along with New Hyde Park, ManhassetLakeville, Great Neck Alert Fire Company, Bellerose Terrace, Stewart Manor, Garden City Park and South Floral Park Fire Departments. These first responders were joined by members of NYPD 105 Precinct and MTA Police as well as Lake Success, Kings Point, Floral Park and Oyster Bay Cove Police Departments and SeniorCare EMS. Car caravan

The ‘Parade of Sirens’ was made even more special due to the fact that earlier in the day, Parker released its first recovered COVID19 patient, James Tully, who doctors said was well enough to return to his Bayside home. Mr. Tully and his family attended the celebration of the staff to thank the them for the care he received in his recovery.

That same week, the Long Island community participated in a car caravan to acknowledge nurses and healthcare workers at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream – Northwell.

Among the crowd cheering, honking, and thanking LIJ nurses was State Assemblywoman Michaelle Continued on page 7

NEW YORK NURSE april 2020

Long Island Continued from page 6

Solages. “It’s important we tell [LIJ healthcare professionals] that we know what you’re doing, to keep up the good fight and to let authorities know that they need more support,” she said.

Fire departments across Long Island are finding creative ways to pay tribute to healthcare workers.

The Bethpage Fire Department led a caravan around St. Joseph Hospital on April 16, their cheers and lights bringing reprise to the nurses watch-

ing. The Hyde Park Fire Department also led a caravan of trucks and cars from the community to show support for healthcare workers at the Parker Jewish Institute.

The PPE donations, cheers, and caravans from the Long Island community combined in a display of public support.

New York City Health and Hospitals

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rossing the 145th Street Bridge that connects Harlem and the South Bronx and continue a few blocks east you find

Lincoln Medical Center, one of the busiest hospitals in the NYC Health and Hospitals system.

On April 14, nurses gathered in front of Lincoln for a candlelight vigil, an homage to healthcare workers on the front lines in the COVID-19 pandemic. Elsewhere in the Bronx, nurses at Jacobi Medical Center have protested conditions. "Any measures to reopen need to be based on science and fact, not profit and fiction," said Jacobi LBU President Kelley Cabrera, RN. Diary entries in April from NYC H+H nurses indicated 68 percent lacked adequate PPE. The last week of April that figure dropped to 58 percent. Still, more than half

the nurses who forwarded diary entries last month were working with inadequate PPE—still.

One newly active member at a NYC H+H facility drafted a petition with her co-workers for better PPE which resulted in greater compliance with the Governor’s “at least one N95 a day” directive.

Another NYC H+H nurse, frustrated with management intimidation, organized fellow nurses to go in groups of twos and threes to sign out their daily N95s. Others did email blitzes to nursing management and HR for fit-testing, organized walk-ins to the command center, and held rallies and press conferences.

Continued on page 8

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“Any measures to reopen need to be based on science and fact, not profit and fiction.”

Kelley Cabrera, RN, Jacobi Medical Center

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New York Nurse april 2020 Continued from page 7

Hudson Valley nurses say: follow the science!

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n April 20, Health Alliance Hudson Valley nurses spoke out for more protection, more testing, and more effort from the government to solve the COVID-19 pandemic. As one nurse home recovering from COVID said, “Healthcare workers must be routinely tested so they don’t put their colleagues, patients, families and communities at risk.”

“We need clear guidelines with national standard protocols for testing COVID-19 that are based on science, not politics or economics,” she added. Currently, hospitals and state officials continue to remake infection control protocols

to fit the shortages of supplies and testing. But RNs know that if they

Albany nurses get results from Governor

I Covid Action Teams More than 350 members have attended NYSNA’s Covid Action Team trainings since early April.

Around the state seasoned nurse leaders and newly active members join the teams to deal with the dire health and safety, staffing, testing, quarantine, training, and visitation issues of the crisis. Modeled on the Contract Action Team that forms during bargaining, Covid Teams aim for a member on every unit and shift who can quickly circulate health and safety information, coordinate documentation of unsafe conditions, and engage members in collective action to move management.

The trainings feature nurse leaders from several facilities who share their CAT fight back stories, presentations from NYSNA health and safety representatives, tips on communication tools and social media, questions and discussion.

Http://tinyurl.com/NYSNATrainings

t was with a sense of urgency that Albany Medical Center nurses held a speak out in front of their hospital on April 11. After Spectrum News and other outlets reported on Lenore Granich, RN, and her experience of being told to reuse the same N95 mask 20 times, the Governor was asked about it during his daily briefing.

The result was that the state’s

COVID-19 Taskforce would set up a line of communication directly with nurses, not just hospital administrations, about sufficiency of PPE and other safety issues in their hospitals. Behind every step the state takes towards fixing the PPE shortage and other matters is a healthcare worker speaking loud and clear about conditions on the frontline.

Buffalo nurses push ECMC in the right direction

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n April 2, the Erie County Medical Center nurses rallied alongside the Communications Workers of America to demand adequate supplies of PPE. There was a call on President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to mandate production of protective equipment.

RN Rachel Larkin asked a powerful question: “So why is it that during wartime, our country can mobilize essentially overnight to mass produce weapons, ammunition, guns, bullets, but during a time when we need to step up and protect our own citizens, we have waited months to even begin to mobilize to produce adequate PPE and ventilators and testing kit supplies?”

NYSNA nurses have asked repeatedly why the Defense Production Act was not invoked to procure and make the equipment desperately needed to shield nurses and treat patients.

ECMC nurses rallied again on April 3 for greater protections against COVID-19. “At times, it has been a struggle to get the PPE and testing we feel is safe and necessary for slowing the spread of COVID19,” said Steve Bailey, RN. “When we rallied outside the hospital, we were joined in solidarity by ECMC Administration, who committed to get N95s to more nurses. Since then, we have seen them make a good faith effort to protect the nurses on the frontlines.”

are getting sick, it’s time to raise standards, not lower them.

Brooklyn nurses highlight disparities

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yckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn was the first in the city to register a coronavirus-related death.

Sadly, that death did not motivate Wyckoff to take action to protect nurses and save patients. A demonstration was organized on April 10 to protest the shortages of PPE, the lack of testing and inadequate staffing impeding their ability to care for their patients.

“You do what needs to be done, but you now have to split your time between four patients. You move from one to the next, it’s almost like an assembly line,” said Coleen Peters, RN. “Sometimes it’s so busy you don’t have time for bathroom breaks or lunch.”

Wyckoff nurses stressed that the inequalities that exist in the community adjacent to the hospital are also affecting the hospital’s resources. Competing for supplies on the open market has left Wyckoff in a losing contest. The voices of nurses at Wyckoff and other safety net facilities must be heard. Any plan for reopening needs to take into consideration our most vulnerable communities, and the healthcare workers that serve them.

Continued on page 9

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Westchester nurses fight on all fronts

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n January, the local Rye Brook, NY, economy suffered a blow as the 400-room Doral Arrowwood Hotel closed. But in late March it reopened and its owners have worked with NYSNA to match frontline healthcare workers to its vacant rooms.

Nurses who drive long distances to Westchester Medical Center now have a shorter commute. And those who fear infecting their loved ones at home after caring for COVID19 patients can instead stay at Doral Arrowwood.

Help from the community

RN Patrice Miloslau, who lives with her 82-year-old mother, signed up for a room through NYSNA. “I’m very appreciative that I have a place to go so my mother will be safe,” she said.

“This is a godsend.”

Westchester nurses are grateful for help from the community. Still,

containing the virus remains an overwhelming task. At Westchester Medical Center, where at one time 20 percent of the facility’s 1,500 RNs were out sick, nurses rallied for more protective gear. “You wouldn’t send a fireman into a fire without his gear,” said David Long, RN. “Don’t send us into this fire without the right gear.”

These sentiments were echoed by nurses at St. John’s Riverside Hospital and St. Joseph’s in Yonkers, which has the highest confirmed number of coronavirus cases in Westchester County. Liya Robin, RN, issued this message to the press: “We want to stay safe, to stay alive, for the future, for today, for our patients.”

Yet Westchester Medical Center continued to fall behind in its provision of PPE to nurses. The mandate by the governor’s COVID-19 Taskforce—that each direct care nurse receive at least one new N95

Montefiore Medical Center

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hile the census has come down, hundreds of patients remain critically ill in the ICUs, some of these units are makeshift. At times, ICU nurses are caring for four patients, well beyond the scope of what’s safe.

While the peak may be passing, nurses and public health experts warn that a re-opening without a fully staffed hospital runs a serious risk, as a second surge may occur.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” said Rochelle Alexander, a Montefiore Weiler Endoscopy nurse. “We need more staff and resource nurses who can help us.

I have the desire to do my best,

but I can’t staff the whole floor.

Typically the tele nurse has a 5 to 1 ratio. But now we do that some days with an ICU level of care.”

Understaffed ICUs

Alexander has been floating to a new unit every single day. She’s often working in one of the makeshift ICUs that Montefiore hurriedly created.

“Our cup is empty,” she said.

“The ratios are still not where they should be. Our frustration is mounting and we need help.”

However, nurse pressure has produced important improvements. “We have fought for daily

mask every day—was not being met. That led to NYSNA’s decision to go to court against Westchester Medical Center. Nurses will pursue every route available to them to achieve safety for our colleagues and patients.

masks and we get them,” she said.

“But there’s a long road ahead.”

Thankfully, the crisis seems to be tapering.

“The COVID admissions are dropping and the ventilator usage is slowing,” she said. But she cautioned against dropping our guard.

“We’re not through this yet,” Alexander said. “We are concerned about a second wind of COVID. If we have not eradicated it fully we will see it again. We want to be hopeful about the treatments and vaccines under research. But we’re still so early in the game. It is a fearful situation.

We need to reopen slowly and not feet first.”

Continued on page 10

“We want to stay safe, to stay alive, for the future, for today, for our patients.”

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Staten Island nurses stand up to Northwell

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orthwell Health, which owns Staten Island University Hospital, is the largest hospital system in New York and the biggest private sector employer in the state. Yet it largely failed to adequately prepare SIUH for COVID-19, even as Staten Island came to have the second-highest concentration of COVID-19 cases in the state.

SIUH nurses did not allow Northwell to silence them, holding a speak out about the lack of protective gear and unsafe staffing levels that have put frontline staff and patients in danger. Dawn Cardello, RN, pointed out that Northwell has been pressuring sick nurses to come back to work after only seven days, even if they’re still showing symptoms: “And to add insult to injury,” she said, “Northwell is forcing some nurses to use their own sick time instead of the paid COVID leave, and questioning nurses if they say they’re too sick to come back to work right away.”

Inadequate PPE is linked directly to nurses’ infection rates, a disastrous effect on staffing levels in the hospital. Nurses are taking care of 3 or 4 critical care patients at a time. There is more. “Every day the hospital is changing how they staff different units,” said Cindy Carlin, RN. “They’re sending us to different areas. It’s very choppy, very disorganized, and it has to stop!”

“We’re calling on Northwell CEO Michael Dowling to lead the way,” said Cardello, “and stop lagging behind.” With its size and resources, Northwell sets the tone for the entire state’s response to COVID-19. SIUH nurses are protesting because they know if they can change direction at Northwell, the rest of New York’s hospitals will follow. Nurses are committed to improving their conditions and will not be silenced.

Upstate

Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and the Upstate COVID Nurse Corps

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he first nurses participating in the Upstate COVID Nurse Corps made their way to NYC on May 4. It was just three weeks ago that Upstate members were first contacted about the Upstate COVID Nurses Corps and more than 120 have volunteered to travel to NYC to assist with the COVID surge.

Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) in Plattsburgh is now partnering with NYSNA to send nurses from Plattsburgh to NYC in phased stages, in a show of solidarity in the fight to stop COVID-19. The first nurses are starting at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) on May 5.

“We’ve been preparing for the surge Upstate, but too many nurses

are on hold, which makes no sense when people so desperately need help,” said Cassie Stanley, RN. As part of the Upstate COVID Nurse Corps, Upstate hospitals will guarantee employment and continued health insurance coverage for nurses who volunteer downstate.

“We object to any furloughing...”

In explaining why NYSNA is launching a new program, the Upstate COVID Nurse Corps, Executive Director Pat Kane, RN, said, “Nurses want to do everything they can to slow the spread of COVID-19 and do what they do best—care for patients. We want to make it possible for them to go where the need is greatest.”

Three upstate hospitals serving

thousands of patients in the center of the state—St. Elizabeth Medical Center (Mohawk Valley Health System), Albany Medical Center and Nathan Littauer in Gloversville are laying off or furloughing nurses.

“We object to any furloughing or calling off any nurse during a pandemic, because it puts our communities at unnecessary risk,” said NYSNA Board Member Marion Enright, RN of Nathan Littauer Hospital. “We think the Upstate COVID Nurse Corps will be a better alternative and will help our hospitals respond to the COVID crisis in a more unified and effective way.”

NYSNA urged Albany Medical Center to participate in lieu of benching hundreds of nurses, but the Administration declined.

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Goals reached despite dismissal of federal case against Montefiore

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n April 20, NYSNA filed three lawsuits challenging the failure of the New York State Department of Health (“DOH”) and two hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center, to protect the health and safety of nurses treating COVID-19 patients.

By compromising the health and safety of the nurses, the DOH and the two hospitals jeopardize patients, their families and the communities in which they live. All three suits expose, among other failures: not providing impermeable gowns and other PPE to cover RNs bodies; not properly training RNs redeployed from hospital units; inadequate provision of safe working conditions for high-risk employees, including pregnant RNs. Overall, the nurses have not received appropriate masks and carry out assignments in unsafe working conditions.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan on May 1 granted Montefiore’s motion to dismiss the case, saying he lacked authority to address the nurses’ concerns.

But he urged both sides to “continue their efforts to reach an amicable resolution of their disputes.”

“Lives may hang in the balance, and the NYSNA nurses deserve as much.”

The judge said the parties were “in a better position than either

the Court or an arbitrator to find the best ways to achieve that goal despite limited resources and everchanging circumstances.”

“Both sides presumably share the ultimate goal of maximizing protections for healthcare workers on the front lines of the battle against a vicious disease without compromising patient care,” the judge wrote.

Four winning points

Although the Montefiore suit was dismissed, since its filing, Montefiore has said that it will: l Properly fit nurses with N95 respirator masks, that they will now get on a daily basis; l Give legally-required sick pay to nurses who have been out of work due to COVID-19 infection, and restore sick pay banks that the hospital previously

improperly docked; l Expand COVID-19 testing

to more nurses working with COVID-19 patients; l E stablish additional compensation benefits for every frontline healthcare worker to recognize their extra work efforts and significant personal sacrifices.

An arbitration between Montefiore and NYSNA over an omnibus safety grievance that NYSNA filed will take place.

Every safety improvement that Montefiore Medical Center has made was the result of nurses fighting for working conditions that protect the health and safety of nurses and patients.

The cases against the NYS Department of Health and Westchester Medical Center are pending.

We are essential Continued from page 2

these quality of life issues. That fight continues.

Reopening

As the hardest hit regions enter a plateau-like phase of “the curve” the terror of premature “opening” looms. If you ask any nurse if she wants to visit the world of a month ago, you will hear the words: “Never Again.” Our front line workers, not just in health care but in transit, food preparation, delivery, home care deserve finan-

cial support, paid sick days, PPE and testing. Our communities need testing and whatever financial supports necessary to survive as they stay safe. Science once again needs to be implemented—not political maneuvering. Move with caution and clarity—not with desperation and stupidity. We may not have a second chance if the same mistakes are made again.

And we need system change

A for-profit health care system is incapable of dealing with a pan-

demic or disaster. It’s not profitable to store masks, PPE, ventilators and other critical equipment; to have “extra” staff, trained ready willing and able to absorb the shock of an influx; to keep beds open—just in case; to keep hospitals open who treat the uninsured, the poor and immigrants.

A for-profit health care system proved to be a death sentence to our communities and our workers.

The time for radical change is now.

And nurses are looked to—to lead that fight: a fight for survival.

“Lives may hang in the balance, and the NYSNA nurses deserve as much.”

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman

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Spotlight on Long Term Care

LTC Platform PPE Parity Now – We need proper PPE on par with Acute Care Hospitals.

Smart Cohorting Measures Statewide – Every nursing home must create dedicated COVID units.

Regular Testing of Residents and Staff – We need rigorous testing of the residents and nurses.

Safe Staffing – We need safe staffing plans that match Acute Care Med-Surg standards: 1 nurse to 6 residents.

Transparency – Nursing homes must be honest with nurses and patients.

LTC Hotline for PPE and Patient Care Issues – We need to establish uniform standards and ensure compliance in the state’s nursing homes. And the governor should set up a hotline so frontline nurses can report problems.

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he reports were frightening—nurses working in Long Term Care (LTC) facilities with little or no protection against COVID-19. Early on, nurses reported being asked to “disinfect” disposable gowns and wear them for days on end.

By mid-April, when NYSNA helped secure a donation of 300 N95 respirators for Ozanam Hall Nursing Home of Queens, veteran nurse Marie Pierre, RN, said the donation could not have come soon enough.

“You can’t imagine how much we need these masks,” said Pierre.

“The staff is so stressed out, so fearful of exposure. So many of our residents are symptomatic that

they’ve stopped testing them; we are treating all with any symptoms as PUIs. Right now, nine RNs are out sick and many LPNs and CNAs are also sick. This is such a hard time.”

Long Term Care Nurses take action

As the media spotlight focused on nursing homes, with a staggering number of deaths and complete lack of transparency, NYSNA nurses in LTC stepped up their organizing and demands for greater protections for themselves and their patients.

A Long Term Care working group was formed out of an April 22 Town Hall, and these members released a 6-point platform to defend their patients in Long Term Care.

Marie Pierre, RN, receives a donation of 300 respirators for Ozanam.

Terrace View Long Term Care gets ahead of the crisis NYSNA

“It’s not time to let our guard down.

I look at this as an opportunity to change the model for Long Term Care in this country, because if we don’t, it will only get worse.”

Lisa Nowak, RN

Terrace View Long Term Care Buffalo, New York

members have a demonstrated it’s possible to manage the COVID crisis in a Long Term Care setting. Terrace View Long Term Care is a 390-bed facility connected to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo. It’s the safety net for ECMC and the entire county. Despite being a public facility that is required to take all patients in the third poorest city in the country, Terrace View has managed to have only four COVID+ patients and no deaths.

“We got ahead of the crisis by preparing early on,” explained Steve Bailey, RN. “We put several protocols into place on March 13, including masking all frontline healthcare workers, shutting down visits, and limiting patient interactions between patients.

It’s a great example of what can be done when Administration and frontline nurses work together.”

Terrace View sets the standard

Lisa Nowak, RN, is the team leader on the subacute 22 bed unit where all new admits and re-admits come into Terrace View. On March 24, she helped transform her med-surg unit into a COVID cohorting unit, where patients are closely monitored, put on droplet precautions, and stay for 14 days before being transferred to a bed in another unit of the facility.

“We are succeeding through transparency and teamwork,” Nowak explained. “This is a scary time, so from the beginning we brought everyone together in a morning huddle to share updates, so people feel prepared and informed—infection control, nurses, dietary, environmental services—we are all working as a team. We are constantly learning and adapting, because that’s what’s going to save our patients’ lives.”

The Terrace View Long Term Care Crew

Terrace View is rolling out voluntary testing for all staff beginning on May 1, something that nurses had been advocating for.

Nowak continued, “It’s not time to let our guard down. I look at this as an opportunity to change the model for Long Term Care in this country, because if we don’t, it will only get worse. Microbiology teaches us that COVID-19 may not be the last pandemic we see. We need to listen to the science, work together, and create a LTC model that makes the safety of the patients and the staff the #1 priority.”

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Reusable respirators will ensure we’re prepared for the next COVID-19 outbreak

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n California they do it. In fact, in Maryland and Pennsylvania they do it. They even do it in White Plains and Western New York.

But in the epicenter of the COVID crisis, most hospitals are not deploying reusable respirator alternatives like Powered Air Purifying (PAPRs) or elastomeric respirators, despite the fact that there is a widespread problem accessing adequate supplies of properly fit-tested disposable N95 respirators.

Early focus on reusable equipment

In March, OSHA advised employers that they could turn to alternate means of respiratory protection if N95 supplies became tight. They pointed to the N95s used in manufacturing and other settings, as well as elastomeric respirators that can be safely cleaned and reused, and PAPRs that provide the best protection.

NYSNA raised this as a demand early on, and also urged that state and federal governments locate and commandeer alternate equipment for use in healthcare settings. NYSNA members pressed their employers on this front as well, insisting that they use reusable alternatives if N95s were running low.

But not a single hospital has done it in the New York City area. Why not?

Montefiore has refused to deploy elastomeric or PAPR equipment in its Bronx facilities, for example. At the same time that they avoid reusable alternatives in New York City, they are routinely using PAPRs at their White Plains facility.

Could it be that the equipment is just too difficult to get right now?

Other hospitals show it’s possible

Not quite. Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Health Network just purchased 5,000 elastomeric respirators. “We wanted to be proactive and thinking outside of the box because the rest of the world is also trying to buy N95s,” says Dr. Sri Chalikonda, AHN’s chief medi-

“By distributing [reusable respirators] the way that we did, we’ve really significantly eliminated our dependence on the disposable N95s.”

Dr. Sri Chalikonda. Allegheny Health Network cal operations officer. “I think the real special thing, for our network anyway, is by distributing them the way that we did, we’ve really significantly eliminated our dependence on the disposable N95s.”

In the past, infection control issues have been raised vis-à-vis reusable equipment, that they posed additional risks and worry for cross contamination. After months of forcing nurses to knowingly expose themselves to this deadly virus, hospital management doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Thousands of bedside staff are still being forced to reuse N95s for an entire shift, even multiple days, going from room to room and patient to patient.

Other health systems have shown that the alternatives can be used safely. The University of Maryland Medical Center and the Texas Center for Infectious Disease have used elastomerics for years, with no significant issues.

Out of excuses

Management’s last-ditch excuse is that reusable equipment is too cumbersome or uncomfortable. Once again, the facts on the ground speak for themselves.

Nothing compares to the irritation of wearing a disposable N95 for hours on end, digging into your nose and face. Nurses at three NYSNA facilities—Lincoln Medical Center, Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, and Montefiore Moses— have all reported health issues stemming from disposable N95s, including skin and respiratory irritation, headaches and stomach issues when wearing the 3M 1860.

Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Health Network just purchased 5,000 elastomeric respirators.

Meanwhile, staff at Brookdale and Brooklyn hospital have been using elastomeric respirators for weeks. They report greater comfort and say that staff wearing them have fewer contracted COVID19 cases. A nurse who has used a PAPR for many years, after she was unable to pass an N95 fit test said, “They are easy to use and I have no complaints.”

Remove supply chain issues with reusable equipment

While disposable N95s have their role to play, the current crisis has shown that healthcare facilities need to have more resilient and reliable PPE options. Reusable elastomerics and PAPRs provide better protection and comfort. And for every reusable respirator worn by a nurse, hundreds and thousands fewer N95s would be needed.

Mount Sinai Hospital recently commandeered two of Warren Buffett’s jets to fly to China and back to secure an emergency shipment of N95s. Maybe the connections and resources of the big health systems could be put to better use getting reusable PPE into the hands of frontline healthcare workers!

Powered Air Purifiers (PAPRs) were the standard of care for Ebola, and would eliminate the need for disposable N95s.

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NYSNA

held a memorial service on April 28 for all the members and colleagues we’ve lost to COVID-19. That day was chosen because it coincided with Workers Memorial Day, an anniversary for the labor movement where we remember workers who’ve been killed or injured on the job.

We will never forget our colleagues, or their service and sacrifice.

In Memoriam

A tribute to fallen nurses

Maria Guia Cabillon, RN

Mama Guia, as her colleagues called her, was a 63 year-old head nurse in the Emergency Department at Kings County Hospital. She was an active NYSNA member, serving the central Brooklyn community for more than 30 years. She passed away on April 26, 2020 from COVID-19. In addition to her service in New York City Health + Hospitals, Maria also worked in Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and New York Community Hospital in Brooklyn.

Romeo Agtarap, RN

Romeo Agtarap passed away from COVID19 on April 24, 2020.

A 63 yearold Registered Nurse and active NYSNA member, Romeo worked in the Emergency Department of New York Presbyterian for 20 years before retiring last year. He had since returned to work as a per diem. His colleagues remember his wit and the way Romeo loved to make them laugh.

Steven Malagraph, RN

Steven Malagraph worked in the Emergency Department at Nyack Hospital and was an active NYSNA member until he passed away on April 22, 2020. He was 57 years old. Steven started working at Nyack Hospital in 2008, and his co-workers described him as a true mentor and leader.

Robert V. Piemonte, EDD, RN, FAAN

Robert Piemonte was the past President of the New York State Nurses Association. He passed away on April 21, 2020.

Many longtime NYSNA leaders will remember Robert, who was also the retired executive director of the National Student Nurses Association. Before retirement, Robert held various teaching and administrative positions in New York State and in national nursing organizations, among them the American Nurses Foundation and Nurses House. He also served as Chief Nurse of the 8th Army Medical Unit. NYSNA honors his service to our organization and to the entire nursing profession.

Marlino Cagas, RN

Marlino Cagas, an RN at Harlem Hospital and active NYSNA member, passed away April 20, 2020. Marlino worked as a pharmacy tech at Harlem Hospital for many years, before embarking on a nursing career at age 60. He started at the bedside in 2018, and will be sorely missed by his Harlem Hospital colleagues. He is survived by two sisters here in New York, and several other siblings in the Philippines.

Roxanne Bent, RN

Roxanne Bent, a MedSurg nurse at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, lost her battle with COVID-19 on April 18, 2020. She was 48 years old.

Roxanne was an active NYSNA member, and started working at Brooklyn Methodist since 1999.

She will be sorely missed by her colleagues on Miner 8.

Rebecca Yee, RN

Rebecca Yee, a Mount Sinai Pediatric nurse and NYSNA member since 1999, passed away on April 17 from COVID-19. She was 48 years old. Rebecca had also worked at Centerlight Health System. A week before her own death, Rebecca lost her mother to COVID-19. She is survived by her brother Hubert Yee and father King Sun Yee.

Maureen Lunney, RN

Maureen Lunney was a 59 yearold night shift nurse, and active NYSNA member, at Richmond University Medical Center. A native of Staten Island, she worked at RUMC for over 38 years before losing her battle with COVID-19 on April 16, 2020. She leaves behind her husband Leo and her three sons, three daughters, and six grandchildren.

Jacqueline Rowe, RN

Jacqueline Rowe worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Bellevue Hospital Center before retiring in 2018. She started working at Bellevue in 1987 and was an active NYSNA member before her retirement. Jacqueline passed away on April 15, 2020. She was 58 years old. Tragically, Jacqueline also lost her father a week before to COVID19 and her mother was killed by the virus just a few days later.

Emma Goolsby, RN

Emma Goolsby was a psychiatric nurse

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at Bellevue Hospital and active NYSNA member for 17 years before she passed away from COVID-19 on April 14, 2020. Prior to working at Bellevue Hospital Emma had also worked at Terrence Cardinal Cook Health Care Center for over a decade. She was 56 years old. She is survived by her two sisters Sabrina and Wanda and will be missed by her Bellevue colleagues.

Ernesto “Audie” DeLeon, RN

Ernest “Audie” DeLeon was a registered nurse and ADN at Bellevue Hospital, where he worked for over 30 years. On April 13, 2020, Ernesto lost his 13-day battle with COVID-19. Ernesto’s colleagues at Bellevue Hospital held a service in his honor, and posted a portion of the remembrance on YouTube. You can view the tribute on our website’s memorial page.

Estelita Atienza Solomon, RN

Estelita Atienza Solomon, a 72 year-old retired head nurse from Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, passed away from COVID-19 on April 10, 2020. Estelita worked at Wyckoff for more than 35 years.

She is survived by her daughter Catherine Solomon, an active NYSNA member at Mt. Sinai Hospital who is currently recovering from COVID-19 herself. Tragically, Catherine and her sister also lost their father, Antonio Solomon, to the virus two weeks prior to losing their mother Estelita.

Mary Ellen Porter, RN

Mary Ellen Porter was a nurse manager at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC), where she worked for more than 25 years.

She fell victim to COVID-19 on April 9, 2020. Diane Donaghy, RN, president of the local bargaining

unit at RUMC said “She was always there for her staff. In the good times, the bad times, when the floors got crazy, she was quick to put on scrubs and help them when needed.”

Susan Sisgundo, RN

Susan Sisgundo, a Neonatal ICU nurse and NYSNA member at Bellevue Hospital, passed away on Wednesday April 8 from COVID-19. She was being treated at Queens Hospital. Prior to joining the New York City Health + Hospitals system she worked at Flushing Hospital. A native of the Philippines, Susan was an active NYSNA member, including participation in NYSNA events like our annual lobby day. Susan’s colleagues are organizing to help reunite her with her family in the Philippines and more details are available on our website’s memorial page.

Gloria Minor, RN

Gloria Minor was a nurse at Metropolitan Hospital and an active NYSNA member for over 30 years.

She passed away from COVID-19 on April 7, 2020 at age 65. She is survived by her three brothers.

Thyce Mattis, RN

Thyce Mattice worked as a registered nurse with the Montefiore Home Health division starting in 2007 and became a per diem nurse at Montefiore-Moses Hospital in the Bronx in 2016. She was an active NYSNA member. She passed away on April 7, 2020 just a few weeks before her 60th birthday.

Aleyamma John, RN Aleyamma John, 65, a registered nurse at Queens

Hospital Center and a 43-year member of NYSNA, passed away on Tuesday, April 7 from COVID19. She began her career at Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation, before moving on to the New York City Health + Hospitals system in 2003.

Yaw Asante, RN

Yaw Asante, a 60 year-old registered nurse and NYSNA member at Lincoln Hospital, was taken by COVID-19 on April 6. In addition to his service in New York City Health + Hospitals, Mr. Asante had previously worked as a nurse in Correctional Health Services.

He is survived by his wife, Rosina Oppong, and three adult children, daughter, Ophelia Gyametaah, and twin sons, Atta Borateng, Sr and Atta Borateng, Jr. You can read a touching profile of Yaw Asante in The New York Times, available on the NYSNA website’s memorial page.

Angela Lewis, RN

Angela Lewis was a 74 year-old registered nurse, and active NYSNA member, who passed away on April 5, 2020. She was originally from the United Kingdom.

After leaving the Visiting Nurse Association of Staten Island, where she worked for many years, she returned as a per diem nurse in 2011. Not long ago she had to leave the VNA to care for an out-of-state family member.

Nicanor “Nick” Baltazar, RN

Nicanor “Nick” Baltazar, a registered nurse from Long Island Care Center in Flushing, NY, passed away from COVID-19 on March 31, 2020. He dedicated 40 years of his life to nursing, 30 of those here in America. He worked in Long Island Care Center for 15

years, and this year would have been his 5th year as the Director of Nursing. He leaves behind his wife Grace Baltazar, also an RN, and his daughter Abigail Baltazar, who just graduated with her BSN.

Theresa Lococo, RN

Theresa Lococo, a 68 year-old pediatric nurse at Kings County Hospital Center, passed away over the weekend of March 28th from COVID19. Theresa was a 48-year NYSNA member, serving patients in New York City’s public hospital system since 1972. Theresa was also remembered in a New York Post tribute to fallen nurses available on our website.

Freda Ocran, RN

Freda Ocran was a 51 year-old psychiatric nurse at Jacobi Medical Center who was taken by COVID19 on March 28, 2020. Freda had previously worked at several other Bronx hospitals, including North Central Bronx and Bronx Lebanon Hospital. You can read about her in the New York Post, also available on the NYSNA website.

Kious Kelly, RN

Kious Kelly was a 48 year-old assistant nurse manager at Mount Sinai-West, who died March 24, 2020 from a COVID-19 infection. Kious was the first RN in New York killed by the virus, and before becoming an assistant nurse manager, he was a NYSNA member for several years.

You can read moving tributes to Kelly from the New York Times, and a profile of his connections between the LGBT community and his work as a nurse in AM New York, both available on our website’s memorial page.

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131 West 33rd Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10001

INSIDE

How to move New York forward, pp. 4-5

In Memoriam: A tribute to fallen nurses, pp. 14-15

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