NY Nurse: March 2020

“Why is it that during wartime, our country can mobilize, essentially overnight, to mass produce weapons, ammunition, guns, bullets?” asked Rachel Larkin, a nurse and NYSNA member from Erie County Medical Center. “But during a time when we need to step up and protect our own citizens, we have waited months to even begin to mobilize to produce adequate PPE and ventilators and testing kit supplies?”

Upstate nurses beat back downsizing

As New Yorkers went on “PAUSE” and hospitals braced for a surge of COVID-19 patients, Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital (CVPH) in Plattsburgh, and St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica notified dozens of nurses with the New York State Nurses Association that they will be forced off the job.

As of this writing, we are grieving the loss of two fellow NYSNA nurses and one former NYSNA member, who died prematurely from COVID-19 — Freda Ocran, Theresa Lococo and Kious Kelly.

In March, 2020, President Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN, wrote the article below. Her column won the prestigious Metro NYC Labor Communicators Award for first prize as the best op-ed. We decided to reproduce it in this month’s NY Nurse. – Editor