Info picketing across NYC
Here are the words and images of members who were among the thousands who carried out informational pickets on February 13. The message was clear: "Safe staffing saves lives!" and “The time for a fair contract is now!” Mr. Moneybags was there to reach out to his brethren CEOs. We will fight for a contract that gives our patients the care they deserve, and nothing less.
“We have right now a system that makes us have to rush. A system that forces us to not be able to be present with our patients, and we want to be able to give them the care that they deserve.”
Michelle Gonzalez, RN, Montefiore
“Mothers are having to wait long times because of low staffing to get into a room just to be taken care of.”
Linda Sledge, RN, Mount Sinai West
“We are really subjected to severe understaffing. Our patients are subjected to overcrowding in our hospital in the Bronx and in many of our major medical centers. Patients are crowded into hallways even upon admission, not given the privacy of a room, a toilet, a sink.”
NYSNA President, Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN, Montefiore
“We want to sound the alarm and let everybody know that this is occurring and come to the negotiation table and negotiate with us fairly. We want a fair contract that will provide the care, the personnel and the resources for our patients—for all New Yorkers.”
Robin Krinsky, RN, NYSNA Director Mt. Sinai
“Twelve and half hours straight, just working, working, working for our patients…. I can have a patient on a ventilator and have five other patients.”
Kyanne Braga, RN, NewYork-Presbyterian
“On the medical-surgical you really shouldn’t be having more than four patients for one nurse…. You might be having people that are taking care of six patients, seven patients, up to eight patients.”
Mary Ellen Warden, RN, Mount Sinai West
“I remember having a patient—an elderly woman—and she needed full assist to eat, and I had to make a decision whether to provide critical care for an urgent case and hang blood or make the decision to help her eat. Of course, I had to treat the most urgent situation first, and no nurse should be forced to make decisions like that. We need to be able to provide quality care on all levels, to all of our patients.”
Anthony Ciampa, RN, NYSNA First Vice President, NewYork-Presbyterian
“We have situations where we have to stop the patients from fighting on the detox unit. It’s our duty to keep everyone safe, including ourselves, and it’s hard to do that when you don’t have enough staff.”
Karen Baptiste, RN, NewYork-Presbyterian
Radio script
Narration: Nurses and caregivers are speaking out.
Nurse: “The ER is overcrowded…4 nurses doing the work of 8...”
Narration: Because hospitals refuse to put enough nurses on the job.
Nurse: “Management knows we’re short-staffed…patients on gurneys spilling into hallways, exposed to infection...”
Narration: These are the words echoed by thousands of New York nurses. Every hospital and nursing home needs safe staffing
So you get the care you need and deserve.
Paid for by the New York State Nurses Association.
Info picket sites
NewYork-Presbyterian & Allen Hospital
Montefiore Moses & Weiler Campuses
Montefiore Hutchinson Campus
Montefiore Westchester Square Campus
Montefiore Home Health Care Agency
Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai West & Mount Sinai St. Luke’s
BronxCare Health System
The Brooklyn Hospital Center
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center