Nursing homes face high vacancies amid pandemic, raising fears for future newsday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 04, 2021
The New York State Legislature approved measures that will require hospitals and nursing homes to meet minimum staffing levels of nurses and other health care staff.
Measures mandating minimum staffing at health care facilities have been around for several years, but the spotlight on stressed and understaffed hospitals and nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic finally prompted the bill’s passage.
Senate sponsor and Health Committee chair Gustavo Rivera spoke before the vote.
“This is an historic moment,” said Rivera, who added that in the decade he’s held office, he’s had more meetings on the topic than any other issue.
The New York State legislature approved measures that will require that hospitals and nursing homes meet minimum staffing levels of nurses and other health
NY lawmakers require minimum staff levels for nursing homes, hospitals newsday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PUBLISHED 7:52 PM ET May. 04, 2021 PUBLISHED 7:52 PM EDT May. 04, 2021
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Two highly anticipated bills that would establish safer staffing levels in both hospitals and nursing homes have now cleared the New York State Legislature with bipartisan support.
Nancy Hagans, a critical care registered nurse at Maimonides Medical Center, says this pandemic exposed what many people already knew.
“We were at a deficit to begin with,” Hagans said. “Now, we had the pandemic and as nurses, we had to do what we needed to do in order to care for our patients and save as many lives as we can. And I truly believe, and we truly believe as nurses, if we had enough staffing, if we had a nurse-patient ratio, we could have saved more lives.”