For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Lutz, 347.835.3429, dan.lutz@nysna.org
Photo opportunities: Nurses speaking out to rebuild healthcare infrastructure;
Nurses going door-to-door to provide urgent medical care in Staten Island.
STATEN ISLAND, November 13, 2012 — As city officials move forward with plans to build the world’s largest Ferris Wheel in Staten Island, nurses say we must rebuild our city’s damaged healthcare infrastructure.
Those nurses will speak out at a public hearing tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 6:00 PM, at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Music Hall, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY, 10301.
New York’s healthcare infrastructure is still hurting after the storm:
“I’ve been going door-to-door in Staten Island,” said Nancy Rooney, RN, a nurses at Richmond University Medical Center.
“I’ve seen people living out of their cars, people with no heat people who need urgent medical attention. They are cut off from the rest of society with no communication. There is still so much work to be done. The Ferris Wheel can wait.”
Nurses in the New York State Nurses Association has set up a program where nurses are going door-to-door in Staten Island to get urgent medical attention to people who need it.
“I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg of respiratory and other problems from storm cleanup. This is not over,” Rooney said.
The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is New York’s largest professional association and union for registered nurses. The association represents registered nurses, and some all-professional bargaining units, in New York and New Jersey. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.
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