NY Nurse: December 2022/January 2023

On Dec. 13, nurses, faith, and community leaders held a vigil outside NewYork-Presbyterian to honor colleagues and patients lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses shared stories to commemorate their colleagues who died on the frontlines.

More than 100 NYSNA nurses and supporters held a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Nov. 30 ahead of a New York City Council oversight hearing on the state of nursing in New York City and on solutions to the short-staffing crisis.

Approximately 17,000 NYSNA members at twelve hospitals in New York City had contracts expiring on Dec. 31, 2022. Of that number, 15,000 nurses sent 10-day strike notices, with Montifiore and Mount Sinai going on strike before ultimately reaching an agreement with historic gains.

As president of NYSNA and a long-time nurse at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, I know intimately the pain of understaffing. I’ve seen the horrible toll of understaffing on patients, nurses, and our communities. Hospitals are not addressing the staffing crisis or the economy.