New York, NY – On Wednesday, November 30, NYSNA nurses gave harrowing testimony on how short-staffing puts patient care at risk at a City Council oversight hearing on the state of nursing in NYC.
Over 100 nurses and allies, joined by City Council Hospitals Committee Chair Mercedes Narcisse and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, packed the steps of City Hall for a press conference ahead of the hearing.
With two-thirds of registered nurses across the country saying they are planning to leave the profession in the next two years, NYSNA nurses are sounding the alarm on the staffing crisis that has left caregivers burnt out and at their breaking point. NYC can’t afford to wait another minute to address the hospital staffing crisis.
NYSNA President and Maimonides nurse Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “When New York hospital CEOs earn an average of over $1 million a year and top executives gave themselves $73 million in salary hikes and bonuses during the first and deadliest year of the pandemic, we know hospitals can afford to hire and retain enough nurses at the bedside. We’re calling on hospitals to listen to nurses and patients.”
Pediatric units are overflowing with RSV cases, and the threat of flu looms as winter months approach. NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, and CM Mercedes Narcisse co-authored an OpEd on the short-staffing crisis that recently ran in the New York Daily News.
“New Yorkers’ access to safe, quality healthcare depends on having enough nurses at bedsides to do the job,” said New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Vincent Alvarez. “Forcing our nurses to work understaffed at the same time that our city is facing multiple healthcare challenges puts all of us and our communities at risk. Hospital executives created this problem by failing to hire, train, and retain nurses; they need to now come to the table and settle fair contracts, hire and train more nurses to achieve safe staffing levels, and commit to listening to these frontline professionals when it comes to the health and safety of the patients they serve.”
