OCTOBER 2018
A NEWSLETTER FOR NYSNA RNs AT WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER
Nurses Work Toward A Safer Workplace On Wednesday, August 8, an active shooter in Westchester Medical Center shot his terminally ill wife—a patient on 4N—and then himself. In the days after the shooting, more than half of the nurses at Westchester Med gathered together to process the incident and support each other. We had three straight days of LBU meetings, where nurses strategized about what went wrong and what we need to feel safe at work. What emerged from these meetings was a list of demands, some of them echoing demands we had been making of Westchester Med management for months and years. Nearly 1,000 nurses signed a petition listing our demands. We insisted—and were granted—a seat at monthly health and safety meetings, along with our union sisters and brothers from CSEA and CIR. We have actively participated in five meetings so far, and can report progress on many of our issues.
The long-awaited Visiting Policy is now in its final review and is already being enforced to control visiting throughout the facility on a 24-hour basis. Westchester Med has also increased security patrols on all units. “The Administration has also contracted with an outside security consultant group to update our safety protocols, physical security design and response procedures to critical incidents,” explained Juliane Hatzel, RN. “While this review will take time, the Executive Committee believes the future changes in procedure and design will address our current safety concerns and anticipate future issues. Our goal is to mitigate the risks potentially faced by patients and staff.” Claire Maggio, RN and Executive Committee President concluded, “Nurses deserve a safe workplace in order to deliver quality care. Please partner with security and make them aware of any issues you may be having. We encourage everyone to continue to express and document their security concerns with WMC security professionals and with NYSNA.”
The election results are in! Check out your new NYSNA Executive Committee members on the backpage.