Upstate highlights Continued from page 19
Putnam Hospital – In April, Putnam Hospital laid off eleven NYSNA members. Because layoffs impact patient care and a community’s access to health services, members notified elected officials, the media as well as the broader community. St. Anthony’s Community Hospital – The 100 RNs organized during COVID are currently bargaining their first contract.
management company was brought in to try to right size the Adult Care Center. University of Vermont Health NetworkCVPH – We had a huge win when a Paid Family Leave grievance was settled the day before arbitration. The Employer conceded that they had been wrongfully making members make up weekend shifts when those members utilized Paid Family Leave time. The Collective Bargaining
Agreement is very clear in stating members using approved leave will not be required to make up weekend shifts missed. Going forward, no member will be required to make up a weekend shift when using Paid Family Leave or FMLA. Vassar Brothers Medical Center – The members of Vassar Brothers Medical successfully prevented the hospital from floating members outside their float districts throughout COVID. This was a huge win for patients and nurses.
St. Elizabeth Medical Center – Through the grievance process, the employer agreed to pay back wages from the last 13 years for an Employee whose longevity payment was omitted from base pay, amounting to over $4,300. Sullivan County – The Legislature planned to sell the Adult Care Center. NYSNA pushed back and worked to block the sale. The Legislature relented and a
After three years, Abany Medical Center RNs won a first contract bringing them a stronger voice in patient care.
School Nurses: On the Frontlines, but Forgotten When most people think of the strain of the COVID-19 health crisis on healthcare workers, they think of people who work in hospitals or health systems. The plight of school nurses is often overlooked or misunderstood. But school nurses find themselves in a vicious fight of being underfunded in state budgets, poorly resourced (meaning they are often doing administrative as well as the technical aspects of their jobs) and needing to support the emotional wellbeing of children and young people as well as adults. Equally important, school nurses have been forced to cope with a pandemic that has at turns shuttered schools and overwhelmed school officials. In addition to monitoring for the common cold or flu, school nurses are now tasked with contract tracing in buildings over-flowing with young people. This has been challenging as most school districts in the state have been 20
2021: We are one
absolutely crushed with the daily volume of COVID cases. Students and adults alike both wonder when the current strain of COVID, and subsequent strains, will end. For instance, in the Lindenhurst School District, three nurses were out for a week due to COVID-19 related reasons. Additionally, 15 to 20% of the school district’s students were in quarantine following the winter holiday break.
More Nurses Please Even before the pandemic, there was a need to hire more school nurses. The best way to create safe schools is to ensure strong bonds with students and adults in the building, including school nurses. Unfortunately, not every school building had, or presently has, a nurse. To better meet the needs of students, each school building should have at least one nurse or healthcare professional. One can imagine how
the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated matters for nurses. In addition to the default of not enough nurses, COVID-19 increased the strain on the nurses who were assigned to schools. It also meant that nurses were expected to do more with fewer resources. NYSNA knows that this is a longstanding issue. The union organized a back-to-school town hall with school nurses in Aug. 2021. The event was designed surface challenges and support healthcare workers in accessing what they need to provide consistent and compassionate care. NYSNA understands that while the challenges have not abated, the best way to meet the needs of healthcare workers is through collective bargaining and unwavering solidarity. The crisis is not over, but union members have the resources to withstand even the toughest of times. The quest for the public is to get them to a place where they see and advocate for all nurses and healthcare professionals, including those in school buildings.
