Being a nurse was already hard. But in the pandemic, it’s become almost impossible.
Credit.Adria Malcolm for The New York Times
By Theresa Brown
Ms. Brown is a nurse and the author of “The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives.”
Feb. 25, 2021
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit New York this spring, Jessica Fink wanted to help. She’s been a nurse for 15 years, and she moved from Delaware to serve at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island.
Ms. Fink told me she was “ready to contribute,” to care for Covid patients. But once she got to Stony Brook, where she worked in the I.C.U., she “felt very alone.”
Abdeljalil Bounhar / AP
Several statewide nurses unions and Pennsylvania legislators unveiled a series of safe-staffing measures during a virtual press conference Tuesday morning. House Bill 106 and Senate Bill 240, collectively known as the Patient Safety Act, seek to set standards in nurse protections.
“As all of America knows, nurses have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. And today we are here to say that Pennsylvania needs safe staffing to protect nurses, and in turn protect our patients,” said Tarik Khan, president of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association.
PSNA is throwing its support behind these bills, as are Nurses of PA (NOPA), the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), and Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania (SEIU Healthcare PA).
WHYY
By
A nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine to a health worker. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)
Several statewide nurses unions and Pennsylvania legislators unveiled a series of safe-staffing measures during a virtual press conference Tuesday morning. House Bill 106 and Senate Bill 240, collectively known as the Patient Safety Act, seek to set standards in nurse protections.
“As all of America knows, nurses have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. And today we are here to say that Pennsylvania needs safe staffing to protect nurses, and in turn protect our patients,” said Tarik Khan, president of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association.
That was before the Navigator program kicked in.
The program, tracked through weekly phone and video calls, is an ambitious effort to keep students and families from slipping out of reach as distance learning extends into next year.
Navigator’s count revealed a deeper problem. Another 1,200 families had unstable housing. Some doubled up in apartments with relatives and others weren’t sure if they’d make next month’s rent.
“It really just sets the stage for [housing] to be an acceptable topic for us to care about,” said Knowles, the district’s homeless liaison. And with a national eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of this month, she added that many of those families could be left without shelter.