NY Nurse February [Long Island]

nurse New York

long island edition | february 2020

Doctors and nurses of the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) provide first aid to those marching from Selma to Montgomery in March, 1965.

Salute to Black History Month, pp. 6-10 Black maternal death, p. 4

Our nurse leaders, p. 6

Corona virus, pp. 11-12

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New York Nurse february 2020

The Power to heal

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he history of the United States can be told in many ways. It depends upon where one sits in the social structures of our society.

By Judy SheridanGonzalez, RN, NYSNA President

How many times do we witness an event, only to see it reported very differently?

Or, have a meeting of the minds conversation, only to discover that the other person believes we had a fierce argument?

Or, maybe we were pressured to accept someone else’s interpretation of events, someone with more power...

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

Expand that experience: consider that much of what we were told about our country, neighborhood, family, jobs…may not be true, or at least may be severely distorted.

How do we know who or what to believe; how do we separate fact from fiction?

It is said that history is written by the victors. Whomever survives gets to tell the story. More often than not, we get only one perspective on phenomena if we’re not there to see for ourselves. More disturbing is the fact that even when we know something to be true, we can be convinced that we’re wrong.

Is it because we don’t stop to reflect, analyze, take a step back?

Nurses do such a good job with our patients. When something doesn’t “feel” right, we react. How many times do we say to a provider: “I don’t like the way she looks, the way he’s breathing, her mental status is off, he is very uncomfortable,” and so on. 90% of the time we’re correct. These assessments are based on experience, the ability to purse together knowledge, and careful observation of subtle signs.

But we take command of the situation and intervene, often saving lives as we do so.

We do that because we recognize the power derived from our skills, as well as our responsibility to respond, and take action. But nurses, like many people, don’t recognize the other power we have: the power to recognize fiction from

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

–Alice Walker

fact, whether it’s something the boss says, our elected leaders say, or something we read in an article, see on television or read in a book.

We allow ourselves to feel powerless in matters of politics or contradictions in our society. Because to recognize the truth would require us to investigate further, to take action, to organize, to take on those we perceive to have more power than the rest of us. To move out of our comfort zones.

Black History Month exists because the history of African Americans in this country was largely left out of the history books, the books written in the perspective of those in power. We as a nation have been robbed of our history! The contributions and the trials and tribulations of people of color, of women, of many immigrant groups, of the labor movement itself—are missing pages in textbooks or worse, terribly distorted stories.

Ours is a nation of so many people, languages, experiences, features, cultures and perspectives.

What should be a cause for sharing and celebration has been mutilated by fear, polarization, xenophobia, mistrust, and a willingness to believe one conspiracy theory after another. Technology, which should exist to make life easier, is often used to further alienate us from our work and from one another.

Our planet faces an existential crisis with human-induced climate

change, causing permanent damage to our ecosystems and world.

Many say this is the most important organizing and election year of our lives. We have the power to change the trajectory, to make demands of our leaders, to heal our planet and our people. Nurses and caregivers have the power to heal, to help our patients recover, or to enter new phases in their lives with support, confidence and accomplishment. We walk families through the joys of birth, the challenges of major life changes, the traumas of illness and injury, the acceptance of death. We touch human beings in ways that open new doors and awaken buried dreams.

Changing society is not that different. Recognizing that we have the power to do so, collectively, with others, is the hard part. Breaking down the barriers that divide us from one another, that isolate us in our little boxes, that alienate us, requires the same commitment and confidence that allows us to work our magic with our patients. Waking up to the common humanity, the threads that bind us to one another, our coworkers, neighbors, folks in the next town—this is what liberates us, what allows us to believe a better world is possible.

We, who have the power to heal a patient, possess the collective power to heal a nation.

Long island

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february 2020

All out for St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center

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t. Catherine of Sienna Medical Center has been in negotiations since last July, having completed 19 sessions. Like so many facilities, the major point of contention is staffing.

Wages are also on a short list of demands.

Nurses were out picketing with information about management’s unfair offer and NYSNA nurses from Long Island and beyond join them at the February 11 action.

NYSNA Secretary Tracey Kavanagh, RN, speaks in support during the picket.

Historically understaffed

The hospital wants to reduce Emergency Department staffing based on a decrease in annual census. However, it is the firm belief of nurses that there was not enough staffing to begin with.

St. Catherine nurses want staffing ratios in all areas of the hospital.

The hospital wants to use average daily census instead of ratios. But this method waters down the staffing based on days with low census.

Wages currently paid by

(L-R) Lorraine Incarnato, RN, Randi Stewart, RN, Tammy Miller, RN, Victoria Diaz, RN and Fran Gerondel, RN St. Catherine make its RNs one of the lowest paid on Long Island.

Nurses have said that with what’s being offered the hospital will not be able to recruit and retain qualified nurses. It’s simple not a com-

petitive wage package, according to Tammy Miller, LBU president.

Over 100 members attended negotiations on February 26 to show their support for the negotiating team.

(L-R) Sue Delese, RN and Colleen Bendy, RN

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New York Nurse february 2020

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By Pat Kane, RN, CNOR, NYSNA Executive Director

he story of Shalon Irving is shocking.

Thanks to reportage of ProPublica and NPR the demise of this extraordinary African American scientist and mother was brought to the public in late 2017. The underlying facts—and what they say about racism in this country—hold true today, perhaps even more so.

Shalon was an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the preeminent public health institution in the U.S. Her focus there was on gaining a better understanding of how structural inequality, trauma and violence make people sick.

Higher death rate

A national disgrace

Black maternal death

Shalon Irving

Her work took a very personal turn when Shalon became pregnant with her first child. Three weeks after giving birth Shalon collapsed and died.

“The researcher working to eradicate disparities in health access and outcomes had become a symbol of one of the most troublesome health disparities facing black women in the U.S. today, disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality,” wrote the reporting team behind this story. (emphasis mine) According to the CDC, black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health.

“Put another way,” the report explained, “a black woman is 22% more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71% more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but 243% more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirthrelated causes.”

Black women were two to three times more likely to die than white women who had the same condition.

In New York City, black mothers are 12 times more likely to die than white mothers. Their risk of death was seven times higher. Black expectant and new mothers in the U.S. die at about the same rate as women in countries such as Mexico and Uzbekistan, says the W.H.O. Staying with New York City as an example, black college-educated mothers who gave birth in the City were more likely to suffer severe

complications of pregnancy or childbirth than white women who never graduated from high school.

American history texts tell us that these types of disparities were largely blamed on supposed innate susceptibility to illness and unhealthy behavior. “But now,” the authors report, “many social scientists and medical researchers agree, the problem isn’t race but racism.”

There are barriers to care: black women are more likely to be uninsured outside of pregnancy and likely to start prenatal care later.

They lose coverage more than others in the postpartum period. The fact that doctors discount black women’s self-reported pain and discomfort (often the result of high blood pressure) plays a role. The authors bear this out: pain is often undertreated in black patients for conditions from appendicitis to cancer.

“But it’s the discrimination that black women experience in the rest of their lives—the double-whammy of race and gender—that may ultimately be the most significant factor in poor maternal outcomes,” write the authors. The stress of being a black woman in American society “can take a significant physical toll during pregnancy and childbirth.” Furthermore, the authors assert that it’s a type of stress from which education and class provide no protection.

Working harder for equal pay; being monitored while shopping at a nice store; stopped by police when in an affluent neighborhood.

One academician calls it weathering: continuous stress wearing away at the body. Weathering is a very serious public health crisis. It causes health vulnerabilities and increases susceptibility to infection, and early onset of hypertension and diabetes.

Weathering and pregnancy

Evidence shows that “weathering” accelerates again at the cellular level. Telomeres (chromosomal markers of aging) of black women in their 40s and 50s appeared 7½ years older on average than those of whites, in a 2010 study.

Weathering can be particularly serious for pregnant women. Stress has been linked to pre-term birth.

Black woman are 49% more likely than whites to deliver prematurely (“closely related, black infants are

twice as likely as white babies to die before their first birthday”).

For black women, the risks of pregnancy likely start at an earlier age than many clinicians, and women, realize. Clinicians need to take into consideration an added layer of vulnerabilities faced by black women.

Shalon grew up in Portland, OR, in a community of white people.

She felt isolated as a child, but she excelled in school at all levels. Landing the CDC job was a plum, although she found the work unfulfilling until a new assignment grabbed her very large intellect.

At 36 she got pregnant, and was ecstatic about it. She was taking medicine for high blood pressure and was dealing with a geneticallylinked clotting disorder.

Still, her team of doctors at Emery University in Atlanta took no chances and scheduled a C-section at 37 weeks. African Americans have higher rates of C-section and more than twice as likely are readmitted to the hospital. They suffer from peripartum cardiomyopathy at higher rates than whites. While they suffer from post-partum depression at rates higher than whites, too, their access to mental healthcare is less. No doubt that the birthing experience is much harder on black women than on whites.

Aftermath of C-section

Shalon experienced a painful lump on the incision of the C-section a few days after going home with her new born. A hematoma was diagnosed and draining commenced. There were three more visits to the hospital and observations that the incisions was not healing fast enough were tied to her use of blood thinners. But one leg started to swell. “The fact that her symptoms defied easy categorization was all the more reason to be vigilant,” said a doctor who later reviewed the medical records.

Home with friends, she complained of feeling unwell. She stood up, clutched her chest and passed out. At the hospital she was put on life support until her family understood the painful truth: she would never come back. An autopsy indicates death due to complications of high blood pressure. Shalon Irving is a martyr in the fight against the legal killer that is racism.

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february 2020

Tracy McCook, RN

was to invite the demise….and ultimately fulfill a prophecy.

The facility was understaffed and overflowing with insufficient operating funds and it was underutilized because it was underfunded. That’s the prophecy at work again.

Upon receiving the “Excellence in Service” award from the NYS AFLCIO, at the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, Albany, February 15

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n behalf of the nurses at The Mount Vernon Hospital I would like to thank you for this award. Your acknowledgment of our struggle and the solidarity that has been extended to us is greatly appreciated.

I am here not as one but as one of eighty. We are the nurses of Mount Vernon Hospital. We are union nurses that proudly belong to The New York State Nurses Association.

There is a threat to healthcare in the city of Mount Vernon that is facing closure because of profit. It is time put a stop to putting profits over patient lives. I would like to say without hesitation that if our hospital were located in any other community comprised of any other racial or age demographic, this closure would likely have never been proposed. For us at Mount Vernon this fight is not new. We were tackling this battle for years prior to the acquisition by Montefiore and like a disease after laying dormant Montefiore decided to reveal their true intent of the purchase.

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he reality is this: The roughly 70,000 residents of Mount Vernon are overwhelmingly African American and they are working people living on the margins, and unless we put up a fight we will not be able to stop the closure.

Most of the care dispensed at the hospital is to people living in the city of Mount Vernon and this is truly their community hospital.

I have been employed at the hospital for 32 years in various settings but for the past 20 years I have worked in the emergency room.

Let me state the obvious: For and ER to be effective it must be part of an impatient hospital.

For the most seriously ill or injured patients who arrive at the ER the stop is short: we evaluate, stabilize, treat and admit, some for surgery others for extended care. These are the patients we see every day.

An announcement that a new ER that is hospital based and tied to a facility outside of the city of Mount Vernon arrives like a sucker punch.

We feel like we have been for lack of a better choice of words hoodwinked and bamboozled.

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o call it what it is: a downgrade and degradation of vital medical and emergency services so desperately needed by the community of Mount Vernon.

As nurses we cannot sit idle and wait for the ball to drop lives are on the line and we have to protest the closure.

Let us be clear the fear is not in us losing our jobs although it is a concern, but what is more concerning is the disappointment in losing the mission that we signed onto when coming to work at Mount Vernon.

The mission was to give care in an area designated medically underserved. To care for the poor: two in ten residents in Mount Vernon live below the poverty line.

The sick, seriously ill or injured, if the shut down occurs will need an ambulance drive out of the city of Mount Vernon to a neighboring hospital that is already overstretched, and this will have a major impact on our first respond-

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Tracy McCook, RN and Dr. Terry Melvin, Secretary-Treasurer, NYS AFL-CIO

ers like EMS, police and fire.

I dare say that for more affluent communities comprehensive healthcare and hospital services are not being considered for downsizing or closure. Revenues are high and all is good.

Mount Vernon’s parent Montefiore name a new CEO Dr. Ozuah. It was reported that in 2017 as Executive Vice President he collected $3.8 million in pay which is sure to have risen since assuming the new position as CEO.

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here is a concept that helps to explain what has happened here and its called “self-fulfilling prophecy”. This is when someone tells you that it’s bound to happen and then does everything possible to ensure that it does.

So when Montefiore purchased Mount Vernon, warning that it was hard to see how it would show a profit, only then to deplete the physical plant, offer fewer services, make it less appealing, driving down the patient census…well that

nough! Says Montefiore, finally showing it’s hand and vowing to pull the plug. But we, the nurses, say not so fast! This fight has just begun and thankfully we were not alone.

The turn out from the community has been inspiring and strong.

Religious leaders, political leaders, other unions, current and former patients, employees and concerned residents who know the critical importance of having a community hospital and the life and death meaning of it showed up to stand with us in the fight.

These are people who do not want to be pushed out of their community hospital.

Our Town Hall Events have been full. I was proud to have spoke at one and fellow nurses at others along with clergy, politicians, other union members neighbors and friends.

Mount Vernon is the second most densely populated city in all of New York State. It has the highest poverty rate in Westchester County ranking around 14.8% Do those figures speak volumes?

Does this old town that sits on the border of the Bronx not show a compelling need for a hospital?

Do its residents not understand the value of an inpatient hospital in their midst?

Of course they do.. We all do. We cannot and will not stop our fight until the hospital remains open for care.

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ount Vernon is the smallest of Montefiore’s acquired facilities within the healthcare system and we often ask is it because of our size that they feel we deserve to be treated this way.

I recently read a post that helped to put that question to rest and it said, If God puts a Goliath like Montefiore in front of us it’s because he knows that there is a David in all of us.

Never underestimate our strength and our ability based on our small size. We are Mighty, we are Powerful, and we are unified in this fight with One Collective Voice. We are the proud nurses belonging to the New York State Nurses Association.

Thank you again for honoring us.

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nysna leaders

New York Nurse february 2020

An on-going series

Our nurse leaders Nancy Hagans, RN, has worked at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn since 1989. She was recently appointed NYSNA treasurer. “Being a nurse is gratifying, especially in the ICU,” she says.

Today her job is as the resource person for NYSNA at Maimonides.

She finds the work challenging, as it allows her to develop a “strategic alliance” on issues with management and on behalf of the membership. “My concern,” said Nancy, “is always the members.”

She is very proud of the contract won last year, with staffing grids.

NYSNA Treasurer Nancy Hagans, RN, (center) receives “Women in the Movement” award at the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, Albany, February 16.

She recalls a time a generation ago when she and other NYSNA nurses went out on strike. It was 1998.

She’s seen a lot at the hospital in her time and speaks with confidence gained from this experience.

Nancy is also a community volunteer in Brooklyn and on Staten Island, where she lives with her two teens. “Meals on Wheels,” and the “Health Fair” benefit from her expertise shared as a volunteer.

She is, as well, on the Staten Island Democratic County Committee.

In the past several years, Nancy recounts, she has witnessed more bigotry. The disparity in immigration policy sets her off. She moved here from Haiti as a child when times were different. “One reason our parents came here was to be in a place that could provide opportunity.”

“ICE does not belong in New York State.”

Yasmine Beausejour, BSN RN-BC, wears many hats. She is the mother of three and works parttime at Hospice Care Network.

She is also a NYSNA nurse at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream and a NYSNA board member.

Yasmine came up through the ranks—first as a home health aide, then as LPN and member of 1199SEIU, she went on to complete her degree and joined Northwell as an RN in 2008. Today she works nights in the Telemetry Unit.

“Two months ago,” she explained, “a young woman was admitted, sick from vaping.”

Yasmine spoke to her kindly and persuasively, after which the patient said, “I promise I will stop vaping.”

It was a moment of great satisfaction. “My words made her feel good in her worst moments. Good rapport with patients is so gratifying.”

Like so many nurses, Yasmine is intimately familiar with the pervasive understaffing. Last week, she recalled, she had seven patients, a level she deems “not safe.” The ER is packed so patients are sent to Telemetry. But the nurses make it ok, despite the unsafe staffing. “I work nights and we stick together. We lookout for each other. It is all about the patient.”

She is on the executive board of the Long Island Federation of Labor.

What about Medicare for All? “I’m glad it is in the forefront of the debate. It is very important.”

She wants to see more access to mental healthcare and knows that a universal system will bring it about. “They can get the care they deserve and not have to worry about how they can afford it.”

Reflecting on Black History Month, Yasmine recalled her Haitian heritage. “Who built

Seth Dressekie, NP

Yasmine Beausejour, RN

Chicago? Haitians. The first permanent Chicago settler was Haitian Jean Baptiste Point DuSable.

“People look at your skin, not what you have to offer,” she said.

“When you are black you have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously.”

NYSNA is so fortunate to count Yasmine in its ranks of nurses and to have her service on the Board of Directors.

Seth Dressekie, NP, was born in England, lived in Jamaica and, at 13, moved to Queens. At 17 he joined the U.S. Army and was on active duty for 10 years, followed by 28 years in the Army Reserve.

He works in the NYC public system and is a NYSNA board member.

His mother was a nurse, which is one reason he explains why he became a medic in the Army.

In 1989, he received his BSN from Dominica College. After 9/11, Seth served two tours of duty in Iraq and in 2010 was sent to the Horn of Africa on civil military operations for a public health campaign. He was an “Ethiopia country officer” working on the eradication of malaria. Being there “gives you a great perspective. New York City has a great public health system,” he says.

Since 2014, Seth has work as a psychiatric NP at Woodhull Hospital… “a great, great job,” he says. “I enjoy my job immensely.”

On Black History Month he recalls a history teacher in 1978 who opened his eyes on the subject. “I taught my sons. We went to the African American Museum in Washington, D.C., several times.” Overall, he laments, “Our children have not been shown what they can be.”

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february 2020

Salute to Black History Month

Calvin Ramsey, and the Green Book, page 8

Dr. Brian Jones, on the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, page 9

“Mother Seacole,� page 10

The cover of the 1947 Green Book, above, in the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

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New York Nurse february 2020

The Green Book The Green Book took its name from Victor Hugo Green, a Harlem resident and U.S. Postal Service worker. Green delivered mail by day, but—with his wife Alma—produced the Green book by night.

The Green Book, as it came to be known, was an annual publication first put out in 1936 and lasted for 30 years. It was a guide to rooms, restaurants, gas stations and other services for African Americans during those years. Published initially as “The Negro Motorist Green Book” and later as “The Negro Travelers’ Green Book,” 15,000 copies were initially printed each year.

It was a response to Jim Crow and, as its listing included more than Southern States, even to locations abroad, it was a reflection of the pervasive racism of those years.

A consuming passion

In 2001, Calvin Ramsey first heard of the Green Book. He worked as an insurance salesman in Atlanta and when learning of the Green Book he developed a passion for its significance in the history of African American life.

He began a search for the Book, going to the Robert Woodruff

Library branches at several Atlanta-area colleges. There he saw it for the first time. “It kept speaking to me,” he said. “This is a piece of history that I should know about. I certainly knew about Jim Crow.”

He located a man who knew Mr. Green (who passed away in 1960).

Victor Hugo Green was a Harlem resident and a mail carrier in New Jersey. Alma Green, his spouse, was from Richmond, Virginia. She was part of the great migration leaving the South for a better life in the North.

She and Victor would travel in the summer to visit family in Richmond. They saw how hard it was to simply make their way.

Segregation was everywhere. The threat of harm was everywhere.

“It was in the air,” Calvin Ramsey related. Green had seen the danger in these travels and the insult heaped upon African Americans.

For Calvin Ramsey, fascination with the Greens and their book only grew. “It was almost like peeling an onion. I called around the different unions in the postal system. Surprisingly, the National Association of Letter Carriers had information on Green, even though blacks were not allowed to join that union until 1960.

“I learned about the black union—The National Association of Postal and Federal Employees (NAPFE), started in 1913; it was for African American letter carriers.”

Pervasive Jim Crow

Calvin Ramsey, NYC, February 2020

Calvin Ramsey left his job and moved to New York City to pursue the subject of the Green Book full time. The first office of the Green Book was at Green’s home, 938 St. Nicholas Ave., Sugar Hill, Harlem. Then, with some revenue, they opened an office at 200 West 135th Street, next to NAPFE. It was published after Labor Day. Alma ran the office with an all-female staff, working every day, gathering information. The mailmen of the NAPFE began identifying “tourist homes,” residences owned by blacks with extra accommodations.

First Green Book encompassed New York City and state. Jim Crow was here too.

The very next year, 1937, after an outpouring of need, the Greens responded to the clamor for assistance on the open road. “Black families were traveling, often with children and elderly relatives, and the last thing travelers would want were encounters with hostile racist people,” said Ramsey.

30,000 produced annually

“The fact that Green Books existed is an acknowledgment of the potential for humiliation, degradation and danger for African American travelers in the days of Jim Crow,” said Brian Jones, Associate Director of Education, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “Over the course of thirty years in publication, from 1936 to 1966, they are also a tribute to the resourcefulness of black workers, weaving a web of safety, fellowship and fun, on a national and even international scale.” (See p. 9 for Dr. Jones’ essay on Schomburg.)

The first blacks hired in corporate America, were salesmen selling a range of goods. They relied on the Green Book, as did academicians on tour. The first black flight attendants could not stay with the white co-workers, Ramsey noted.

White America was interested in the black market, to wit, selling gas. John D. Rockefeller, Sr. had a program for blacks to travel that included recruiting black men to run his filling stations, Esso stations. (Wynton Marsalis’ grandfather had the first Esso station in Louisiana.) Esso sold the Green Book at stands at the stations.

At its height 30,000 Green Books were produced annually.

Calvin Ramsey started writing about the Green Book. His first play about it was produced in Atlanta in 2010. Then he wrote a children’s book. It caught on. Today, Ramsey travels most of the year, with his play, The Green Book, running most recently in Houston; an opera is planned for Cleveland. He does readings at grammar schools across the country.

“I tell children that this was started by a blue collar black worker with a leather bag on his back.

Two regular people who said, ‘We’re going to do something.’”

“It was one big family. If you were traveling, you were in the same boat.”

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february 2020

Black history is more important than ever

By Brian Jones, PhD

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he time has come for a more honest reckoning with black American history. Through the eyes of black people, American history is turned upside down, made messier and more difficult, but more honest. Black history is American history, and it is a story that needs to be told.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is dedicated to telling this story. It is a research library (part of the New York Public Library) that holds more than 11 million historical items related to global black experience, in all languages. So many institutions in New York City are named after fabulously wealthy and powerful people—but not the Schomburg Center. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born in Puerto Rico, of African and European ancestry. As the probably apocryphal story goes, little Arturo asked one of his primary school teachers about African history, and the teacher told him there was no such thing.

From humble beginnings

At the turn of the twentieth century, Schomburg emigrated, like so many others, to New York City and to Harlem. Schomburg got a job in the mail room of a bank and spent his spare time in the intellectual and artistic milieu that gathered at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library. He also used his modest paycheck to acquire books, pamphlets, documents, and images related to black history. By 1926 he had accumulated approximately 10,000 such items (half were books!), which the New York Public Library purchased in that year. From these humble beginnings, the 135th Street Branch eventually became the Schomburg Center, a world-renowned archive and research library. In his famous 1925 essay, “The Negro Digs Up

His Past,” Schomburg wrote that the collection contained “materials not only for the first true writing of Negro history, but for the rewriting of many important paragraphs of our common American history.”

When you visit, ask to see the collection of documents signed by Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution (the first and only successful slave revolt, which gave birth to the first free black nation), or a first edition of a collection of poems by Phyllis Wheatley (born in West Africa,

ety. One unmistakable pattern is the deep connections between that movement and the struggle for civil rights. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters led by A. Philip Randolph provided essential resources that made the U.S. Civil Rights Movement possible.

Educators like Richard Parrish, a teacher and activist with the United Federation of Teachers and founder of its Black Caucus, and Ella Baker, who worked at the 135th Street Branch as an educator in the 1930s, and then went on to contribute to many different civil rights organizations in the 1950s and 1960s, including the NAACP, Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Black women like Ella Baker are too often ignored in our histories, but

Marva Wade, RN, NYSNA Board Member

Dr. Brian Jones, NYC, February 2020

sold into slavery in North America as a young girl), the first black woman to publish such a book. We are usually taught that figures like George Washington are the authors of our liberties. But Louverture and Wheatley argued for a more expansive vision of democracy than Washington, who, like many of this nation’s founding fathers, owned other human beings and did not believe that those people were “created equal.”

The role of labor

By turning the usual historical narratives upside down, black history is an invitation to reconsider the role of laboring people and the labor movement in our soci-

“As nurses, we are color blind.

Each and every patient deserves quality care. But elsewhere in our society color plays a discriminating role. We must unite to end racism in all its ugly forms.”

she shared an orientation on the labor movement as a crucial ingredient in the struggle for justice, and looked forward to “the day when the soil and all of its resources will be reclaimed by its rightful owners—the working masses of the world.”

Black history is more important than ever. We need to read, to learn, and think about the past in order to prepare for our collective futures.

Black history is for everyone.

Brian Jones is the Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

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New York Nurse february 2020

Mary Seacole

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n 2004, Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse, was named greatest Black Britain.

Seacole, one of the most celebrated women of the 1800s, had earned renown beyond her lifetime. In 2016 her statue was unveiled in London and stands opposite the Houses of Parliament in the grounds of St. Thomas Hospital.

She was highly skilled at neonatal care, at treating tropical illnesses and practicing good hygiene. During her lifetime, Seacole garnered international attention nursing soldiers on the battlefield of the Crimean War, a job she self-financed, having been turned down for service by the British government and Florence Nightingale’s medical team, despite her unique training, particularly in treating cholera, an illness afflicting thousands of soldiers.

Born in Jamaica to Mary Jane Grant and a Scottish soldier, she learned her nursing skills from her mother.

She married Edwin Seacole and traveled widely , studied traditional European medicine.

She was known as “Mother Seacole”.

Mother was a free black woman

Seacole became one of the two most lauded nurses of the war, earning her the title Mother Seacole. Of her service in Crimea, her contemporary William H. Russell, the Irish journalist, wrote: “In the hour of their illness, these men have found a kind and successful physician, a Mrs. Seacole.

She is from Kingston (Jamaica) and she doctors and cures all manner of men with extraordinary success.” The only nurse of her day to achieve similar celebrity was Florence Nightingale.

Mary Jane Seacole, nee Grant, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 23, 1805, a time when the British had not yet abolished slavery. Her mother, known as The Doctress, was a free black woman, trained in the art of traditional African and Caribbean healing; her father, a Scottish lieutenant in the British army. Her unusual background put Seacole in contact with a wide array of medical practices.

At a very early age, Seacole learned herbal medicine at the Doctress’s knee, treating injuries and ailments, yellow fever, and cholera with remedies that had been handed down for centuries by Jamaican women of West African descent. Of particular note was the practice of hygiene, a West Indian tradition that

pre-dated the writings of Florence Nightingale by more than 100 years.

Seacole attended to the sick at the British Army hospital in Jamaica’s Up-Park Camp, which was staffed by British doctors and where she was exposed to some of the best practices in British medicine. In 1850, when cholera broke out in Kingston, Seacole used lead acetate, mercury chloride and herbal remedies to treat the sick.

She practiced medicine wherever there was need. She treated cholera in Panama and a multitude of illnesses on Jamaica’s slave plantations. Seacole acted as nursemidwife, and boasted she never lost a baby, avoiding mercury pills and bleedings, techniques common among European doctors whose neonatal death rate totaled 25 percent of births. She was trained in certain surgeries, and operated on knife and gunshot wounds.

On her own dime

Of her many achievements, Seacole is best known without question for refusing to capitulate to the obstacles and unfathomable discrimination that would have prevented her from serving soldiers on the Crimean front. Lacking financial support from the British government, Seacole traveled to the frontlines on her own dime and in 1855, opened the British Hotel.

From there, she provided desperate-

ly needed care, “taking mules laden with food, wine and medicines” to the front and tending to soldiers “while battle raged around her.”

In a letter from Crimea, written in 1855, Dr. Reid, a surgeon in the British army wrote: “Here I met a celebrated person. A coloured woman, Mrs. Seacole. Out of the goodness of her heart and at her own expense she did not spare herself if she could do any good to the suffering soldiers.”

A special autobiography

As is too often the case, no good deed goes unpunished. Mary Seacole left Crimea broke. A resilient woman, she resurrected her finances by penning one of the first autobiographies written by a British-Jamaican woman: the Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. Her perseverance was further rewarded by a successful public campaign to raise money on her behalf, The Seacole Fund. Since her death in 1881, she has received numerous awards and accolades, including the Jamaican Order of Merit.

Without a doubt, Mary Seacole was an extraordinary woman.

Her curious mind and indomitable spirit elevated her above the prejudices of her time and empowered her to make significant and vital contributions to her profession and to mankind.

NEW YORK NURSE

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february 2020

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Montefiore needs a better plan

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ecently at Montefiore we had a case of a patient who had significant travel history and was concerned about sick contacts during travel. The patient, who had no past medical history, was short of breath and had lower than normal oxygen saturation. Montefiore was notified that the patient would be coming to us via ambulance.

Instead of using the designated isolation room Montefiore dressed the patient up in a yellow gown, an N95 mask, gloves and a face shield and walked the patient through the west side of the emergency department, through all of our sickest patients. This patient caused alarm to those they passed. The patient’s dignity was

completely disregarded and disrespected. The patient’s family was however not in any PPE. Both the patient and visitor exited the room to use the bathroom and the visitor made phone calls. There is no sink outside of the room, where the patient was and both patient and visitor touched many things unprotected and were unable to wash their hands.

Covid-19 may be a real threat to us and the CDC has warned us to prepare now. We should be taking note of how China’s epidemic is running at this point. China has restricted 750 million people’s movements. They don’t have a four bedded unit for their isolation patients. They have built hospitals to house hundreds. China has

dressed their healthcare workers in hazmat suits and still hundreds have fallen ill and some even died from the disease. Montefiore is supposed to be a trend setter and a leader yet we are concerned that we are unprepared for this epidemic if it hits us. While we accept as healthcare personnel that we may be exposed to this illness, we do not want to be ill prepared and under protected. Montefiore is a hospital that serves a community of thousands and the emergency department see hundreds of patients a day. We need a better plan to protect our community, our patients, our staff and our families.

–Emergency Department Moses

NYSNA on the move – COVID-19 action

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s both a labor union and public health advocacy organization, NYSNA plays a unique and important role when new types of virulent, infectious agents spread throughout local communities, our country and the world.

From members answering the call to domestic and foreign areas in need, to analysis and interpretation of complex scientific data, to providing common-sense guidance to both NYSNA members and a wide range of workers both locally and throughout the country, NYSNA is taking action. Whether it be SARS, Ebola, H1N1 or COVID-19, NYSNA is on the frontlines of providing guidance and advisement to all who need it.

What has NYSNA been doing related to COVID-19 so far? l Long before a single case of COVID-19 hit U.S. shores, NYSNA kept on top of the developing situation and began creating guidance documents for members to use at their facilities. l Members are using NYSNAcreated practice alerts, checklists and filing information requests to make sure their facilities are fully prepared before it is too late. l Members have identified areas where preparedness has not been

adequate, such as education, PPE supplies and identification and isolation procedures, and are working with NYSNA staff to impel facility management to make necessary changes. l Members have identified situations where hospital policies and procedures were not adequately followed and, with assistance from NYSNA staff, have pushed for hospital investigation and action. l Members are attending NYSNA conference calls and are using

NYSNA-created materials to educate their co-workers about COVID-19. l Members help make NYSNA a clearinghouse for information.

When NYSNA staff hear about COVID-19 problems from members, they are able to use that information to focus attention on potential gaps in precautions and plans—and then get the word out to all members.

Lastly, we should recognize NYSNA members who go above and beyond the incredible work that nurses do every day. Some NYSNA members have deployed through the Medical Reserve Corps, for example, to care for patients quarantined on U.S. military facilities. And in just 2019 alone, more than 100 NYSNA members have participated in medical missions the world over.

To learn more about what you can do to improve safety and preparedness related to COVID-19 or other occupational health and safety issues, contact the NYSNA Health and Safety Representatives at healthandsafety@nysna.org.

Updated COVID-19 information and a copy of the COVID-19 checklist can be found and at bit.ly/nysnancov.

NY Nurse wants your voice Letters may be on any topic, but must be less than 200 words and are subject to editing. You must include your name, however you can request that we not publish it.

Write to us: Letters/NY Nurse 131 West 33rd Street NY, NY 10001

email: NYNurse@nysna.org

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public health

New York Nurse february 2020

Coronavirus update

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ovel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases both within China and throughout the world continue to rise. As of this writing, the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are reporting over 90,000 cases worldwide. Although the vast majority of cases are in China, thousands of cases in total have been reported from over 60 countries.

Here’s what we know so far: l COVID-19 can be spread by

droplets, airborne particles, contact, splashes to mucus membranes and has been found in urine and feces of infected patients. That means strict airborne, droplet and contact controls must be in place at all times wherever there may be close contact with a patient who is under investigation for (PUI), or is confirmed to have, COVID-19. l I nfected persons can have symptoms ranging from none to mild to severe. l 80% of those who have died are aged >60 years, and 75% have underlying health conditions. l Approximately two-thirds of those confirmed to have COVID19 are men. l A lthough children can be infected by COVID-19, most do not develop severe symptoms. l T he COVID-19 mortality rate is estimated to be 2% (higher than seasonal flu but lower than SARS). It is still too early in the outbreak to determine if this rate is accurate. While the overall mortality rate is suspected to be in the 2% range, the WHO reports that, for those patients who are critically ill with COVID-19, the mortality rate is approximately 50%. l T he number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is rising, and community-acquired infection has now been reported in several states (i.e., people have become infected who did not travel to counties where COVID19 is prevalent and had no known contact with people who were infected in these countries). l A ll people entering the U.S. from China are now screened by the CDC at U.S. airports currently

approved to accept flights from China. Those with symptoms are taken to the hospital for further testing. Those without symptoms are placed in a 14-day quarantine. The CDC is considering screening passengers from additional countries where COVID19 is prevalent. l T he currently accepted incubation period remains 2-14 days.

However, there have been a number of cases where the incubation period was longer than 14 days. l T he CDC has expanded its Criteria to Guide Evaluation of PUI for COVID-19. Please go to the cdc.gov webpage for updated clinical assessment criteria. l Many healthcare workers treating patients infected with COVID-19 have become infected themselves. Some have died.

Patients in several countries have become infected in the hospital while being treated for other medical conditions. The risk of nosocomial infection remains high at this time. NYSNA is working to obtain information from healthcare facilities to make sure healthcare workers will be adequately protected from occupational exposure.

Healthcare facilities must take the following steps to protect both patients and healthcare staff from COVID-19 infection: l Conduct a hazard assessment

for ALL hospital staff, no matter what the job title, that includes job responsibilities and proximity to patients who have confirmed, or are under investigations for, COVID-19. l Conduct training for ALL hospital staff, not just healthcare staff, on COVID-19 including identification, symptoms, modes of transmission, incubation period and protective measures needed as determined by the hazard assessment. l Make sure there is an adequate supply of surgical masks for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients. (Note: surgical masks do not protect the wearer. For protection from exposure, a respirator [e.g., N95 or PAPR] and other PPE is required.) l Make sure there is an adequate

supply of PPE (gloves, gowns, goggle or face shields, N95 respirators or powered air-purifying respirators [PAPRs]) for all those determined by the hazard assessment to need them. If there are not enough N95s available, an adequate supply of reusable respirators, such as PAPRs, must be in stock. Hospitals should be expanding their stock of PAPRs as N95s are in short supply and are unlikely to be available in adequate numbers should community-acquired infection expand, as it is expected to, in the U.S. l Make sure there are designated negative pressure rooms both in the ED and on designated inpatient units for PUIs (Persons Under Investigation) or confirmed cases of COVID-19. l Make sure negative pressure rooms are checked on a daily basis to confirm that adequate negative pressure is maintained. l Make sure there is adequate RN staffing to conduct pre-registration identification of COVID-19 PUIs and confirmed cases. l Make sure there is adequate in-patient staffing for units designated to treat and/or further investigate confirmed or PUI cases of COVID-19. In order to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the healthcare setting, the CDC recommends that healthcare staff assigned to care for PUIs and patients with confirmed COVID19 not be caring for non-COVID-19 patients at the same time. l Make sure there is adequate staffing to allow additional staff to help staff assigned to the COVID-19 patient (or PUI) to assist with PPE donning/doffing as well as an observer (as was done for Ebola). l Make sure there are protocols in place to mask family and other visitors who enter the hospital with the COVID-19 PUI or confirmed case. l Hospitals should implement sick leave policies for staff that are non-punitive, flexible and consistent with public health guidance.

More information, including regularly updated practice alerts, a COVID-19 healthcare facility preparedness checklist and a flu surge checklist can be found at bit. ly/nysnancov. For specific information or questions, please contact the NYSNA Health & Safety

Representatives at healthandsafety@nysna.org. This situation is evolving rapidly. NYSNA is following changes closely and will updated materials frequently.

The CDC recommends that individuals take the following measures to prepare for possible community-transmitted infection: l Maintain an adequate supply of

prescription and over-the-counter medication at home in case of quarantine or shortages. Those over the age of 60 and people with underlying health conditions are at higher risk of severe symptoms. Therefore, if there is an outbreak in their communities, it might be more difficult or risky to go to crowded areas. l Consider stocking up on enough dry or canned goods to last you a few days. Again, this may be more urgent for those who are older and/or have underlying health conditions. l Common sense cleaning measures will protect you and your family from COVID-19, influenza and other infectious pathogens. These measures include: l Frequent hand washing for at least 20 seconds l Frequent cleaning of surfaces such as door knobs, phones, computer keyboards, etc. l Keeping some physical distance from people who are sick, particularly if you are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms (i.e., >60, or have an underlying health condition) l Practice cough etiquette l Limit touching your face

Sources used for information in this article include: Centers for Disease Control.

(2/26/2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html World Health Organization.

(2/26/2020). Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/ emergencies/diseases/novelcoronavirus-2019 New York State Department of Health. 2/26/2020). Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Retrieved from https://www.who. int/emergencies/diseases/novelcoronavirus-2019

NEW YORK NURSE february 2020

My journey for Climate and Environmental Justice

By Nella Pineda-Marcon, RN, NYSNA Board Member

I

have always loved nature because I grew up in a rainforest and natural resource region. This upbringing was in so many ways a source of inspiration—to embrace the comforting peace, subtle beauty and stable tranquility!

But never in my wildest dreams have I imagined or thought that I would find my pampered self in the middle of a fight to keep our environment sustainable and protected for future generations.

I have been a nurse in New York for the past 30 years. For the most part, I was very much content with receiving a pay check, taking days off and enjoying vacation benefits.

But since I became active in one of NYSNA’s professional organizations, I now appreciate the essential value and critical importance of advocacy work for our members, lobbying for patient rights, and advancing our community’s health (and therefore strengthening the people). This advocacy, along with protecting my family, has become my top priority.

Climate change is a public health crisis

When I was elected to the NYSNA Board of Directors in 2016, I became more aware of the nurse’s role in promoting health by educating our patients and community about the direct impact of climate change on healthcare.

Climate change is a public health crisis and we have to fight the current system and re-direct its course!

Our emergency rooms are swamped with asthma and respiratory illnesses, the systemic effects of the dirty air that we breathe.

There are so many natural calamities and weather-related disasters the world over, bringing unseasonably heavy rains and strong winds, fierce storm surges, uncontrollable forest fires, frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions— almost every month.

Extreme weather conditions and airborne pyroclastic elements affect mostly the young and the elderly.

Fracking for fossil fuels further threatens public health, safety and welfare. The affected communities’ water table and potable quality is degraded. It also destabilizes their property’s bedrock and house foundations. The unsafe practice in underground disturbances has to stop!

Comprehensive climate legislation

For the past few years NYSNA has worked in coalition with city and state organizations, as well as with national environmental groups, to campaign against Climate Change.

I was one of the nurses who testified before the New York State Senate committees that led to enactment of the historic Climate Leadership and Climate Protection Act (CLCPA), which adopts the most ambitious and comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in the country.

Governor Andrew Cuomo also signed a bill for the nation›s largest offshore wind agreement and the single largest renewable energy procurement by any state in U.S. history— nearly 1,700 megawatts.

With the installation of two offshore wind projects there will be enough energy to power over one million homes, create more than 1,600 jobs, and result in $3.2 billion in economic activity, to commence in 2021.

It is during these decisive moments that the nurses› advocacy and experience are heard and acknowledged, because we are on the frontlines of the public health system, specifically now in climaterelated emergencies.

We are the first responders who take care of patients during climate disasters and emergencies.

People love and trust their nurses.

Naturally, nurses are among the most respected professionals according to the World Health Organization.

In December 2019, I was a delegate at the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference (COP25) held in Madrid, Spain. I represented NYSNA with the Trans Union Confederation (TUC).

After a week›s round of conferences and consultations, the Climate Summit delegates marched in the streets of Madrid along with workers and union leaders from all over the world— concerned families, parents and students from the school strike group “Fridays for Future” inspired by Greta Thunberg. An estimated 500,000 participants rallied that Friday evening.

Since 2014, after sending a first responders› medical team in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda (November 2013), disaster relief operations in Leyte and Samar provinces, central Philippines, our union has created a Committee on Climate and Environmental Justice that I currently chair.

It is composed of regular members that includes board members, our union President Judy SheridanGonzalez, RN, and some support staff.

Signing up more for Climate Justice

This year we are working on participating in the Climate March (NYC) which will be in April 2020. We also coordinate relief work with the New York Recovery Network (NYRN). The team conducts medical missions in countries affected by Climate Disasters. We are looking forward to signing up more members who will join our efforts to promote Climate Justice.

With rising seas and warming temperatures, the Paris Agreement (2015) governing emission reductions from the year 2020 states that future global warming should limit its target to 1.5°C, relative to preindustrial level. It is an imperative.

We have to act TODAY, if not NOW, then WHEN the time comes it may be too late!

Board Member Nella Pineda-Marcon, RN, observing offshore winds in Rhode Island.

Climate change is a public health crisis and we have to fight the current system and re-direct its course!

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14

New York Nurse february 2020

Suchiate, Mexico Medical Mission’s report

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his was the third consecutive year that a team of NYSNA professionals, all first-timers, visited the Suchiate region in southern Mexico.

This city is on the border with Guatemala.

Suchiate is known as the gateway for Central American immigrants to the United States, which has sparked many debates between the US and Mexico.

Our nurses and two doctors offered their health care services not only to needy communities in the rural area of Suchiate but also to the migrants who pass through here.

Our team had very busy days while providing health care to 559 patients.

NEW YORK NURSE february 2020

nyc h+h/mayorals

– Benefits that really add up

staten island

– SIUH nurses: ready and able

Around the state 9

capital/north country/central United, Capital Region nurses rise

western region

–

– Black history and our futures

westchester/hudson valley – Health

Alliance Hudson Valley contract unanimously ratified

new york city – Nurses say NO to Medicaid cuts!

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NEW YORK NURSE

Non-Profit US Postage Paid NYSNA

february 2020

131 West 33rd Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10001 1 LI

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

Save the Date

NYSNA Safe Staffing Lobby Day NYSNA members along with our sisters and brothers of 1199SEIU brought in the Year of the Rat in Chinatown, Manhattan, February 9.

April 21, 2020