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New York lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that establishes minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes, asserting understaffing practices at some facilities contributed to COVID-19 infections and deaths.
The health care staffing bills, which have been debated in various forms over the past decade, were approved by both houses of the Legislature Tuesday afternoon. During a press conference earlier in the day, health care union leaders and lawmakers urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign the bills, if passed.
One bill establishes minimum staffing hours per resident and related provisions for nursing home care statewide. It comes after more than 13,000 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 complications in the long-term care facilities.
New York lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that establishes minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes, asserting understaffing practices at some facilities contributed to COVID-19 infections and deaths.
The health care staffing bills, which have been debated in various forms over the past decade, were approved by both houses of the Legislature Tuesday afternoon. During a press conference earlier in the day, health care union leaders and lawmakers urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign the bills, if passed.
One bill establishes minimum staffing hours per resident and related provisions for nursing home care statewide. It comes after more than 13,000 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 complications in the long-term care facilities.
Created: April 08, 2021 11:55 PM
The New York State Nurses Association says they need more staffing at Ellis Hospital. They say nurses have filed nearly 300 complaints to hospital management over the last two years.
“We’re constantly asked to do more with less and it s getting increasingly harder,” said Denise D’Avella, a registered nurse at Ellis Hospital.
Denise D’AVella works in the Cardiac Cath Lab at Ellis Medicine. She says staffing has been challenging.
“Now it’s becoming the norm to have one nurse to three patients and these nurses are taking care of some of the sickest patients in the hospital,” said D’Avella.
St. Vincent nurses in Massachusetts in fourth week of strike for safe staffing
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts are entering the fourth week of strike action. St. Vincent is owned by Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas, Texas-based conglomerate that has so far spent at least $22 million to hire strikebreaking replacement nurses. After a series of federally mediated negotiations, the nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, took their demand for safe ratios and patient care to the picket line on March 8 .
Roughly 700 nurses maintain the picket in shifts. Two entrances, one to the parking garage and to the loading docks, have become hotspots. Last week, the hospital installed two surveillance towers to monitor both entrances 24/7, under the pretext of maintaining safety. Worcester police officers, paid for by the hospital to keep the entrances open at a rate of $30,000 a day, installed a surveillance camera of their own.