Lead, Follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY

This is what Leadership looks like

Health-care professionals, pull together now

I have been a nurse for more than 35 years and a nurse at The Mount Sinai Hospital for over 23 years. I work directly with patients on the front-line, full-time. I have never been prouder of all my coworkers and colleagues.

I entered into the profession of nursing because I love people. I love to care for people who are critically ill, people who are marginalized by society, and provide them with the necessary tools to take care of themselves and their families.

I think I speak for all nurses when I say we want to see people attain wellness and keep them healthy. We as nurses have an opportunity right now to impact the lives of not just New Yorkers but all communities across this great country. But we can only do this by taking this pandemic seriously and acting in solidarity with one another.

Tens of thousands of health care workers and first responders go to work every day. From the housekeepers to the doctors, they go to work knowing the risks they face every day. Is everything perfect? I say no. Is everything organized? Not by a longshot. No one thinks this is optimal. Doctors, nurses, managers, directors, and environmental staff are getting sick as well. No one is immune.

Now is the time for labor, management, union, non-union, self-employed, non-employed and everyone in between to work together to make the best of this unprecedented situation. We are working together to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Communication is the key.

I’m asking my fellow nurses to escalate any issue to their supervisors or managers. You are not alone in this fight, but we cannot help if we do not know the issues taking place. Lack of communication at all levels led to nurses wearing plastic bags, not lack of supplies.

Blaming one another for the unfortunate death of a nurse benefits no one and only pains families. We have already gotten many of the improvements our front-line staff have asked for. Mount Sinai was also the first health system to stop visitors from coming into the hospital and to give anyone working in the hospital a mask if they wanted one.

I did not sign up to be a nurse for the glamour, I did not sign up for a pandemic, I did not sign up to deliver the deceased to makeshift morgues, I did not sign up to have two patients in a one-patient room, I did not sign up to work in a war zone, I did not sign up to have beds in lobbies, I did not sign up for information that changes minute to minute to minute, but this is what I got.

I know that I am rising to the occasion and that all of you are rising too. We are resilient, we are heroes to the public and our families. We are innovative and setting the highest standards for other organizations with our best practices. We are confronting ethical issues but not losing our humanity. We are doers, we are thinkers, thinkers who think outside the box, and our ideas have been adopted by our organizations and rapidly implemented.

At a time where information is changing every second, all ideas are good ideas. The conversation is always open and I encourage all nurses to participate.

We can’t overcome these challenges by ourselves. We all can, and must, work together regardless of our political affiliation, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, race, gender identities or anything that may set us apart from one another. If we do, I know that we will come out of this stronger than when we came in.

Krinsky is a clinical nurse in cardiology at the Mount Sinai Hospital and the labor bargaining unit president of New York State Nurses Association at Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also a Director at Large for the New York State Nurses Association and adjunct assistant nursing professor at Lehman College.

And This

Mshexec Nysna

Admin · 21 hrs

There are several members on this FB site who are proposing a protest during this pandemic to publicly express their concerns. Some of you maybe aware and even some may have been invited. We as the executive committee of the LBU at MSH wholeheartedly agree with this action. We reviewed the statement of purpose that they provided, as well as some comments. We would like you to please listen to some of our concerns: How would it look for the nurses at MSH who have one of the best PPE policies in NYC right now, to be demonstrating when down the block at Terrence Cardinal Cook (TCC) has next to nothing. They receive only 1 N95 mask a week. They take care of an entirely poor, elderly, disabled, minority population. The staff of TCC are NYSNA RNs and are almost entirely minority staff. We also know that Montefiore and NYP-Columbia Presbyterian (the #5 Hospital in the country) receive N95s only twice a week. Additionally, there are nurses and doctors in their 60s and 70s volunteering to work with the same or even less PPE. We don’t want to look like elitists wanting more, when uptown, the Bronx, and down the street they have so far worse. Think about how the community would react at this “rich, upper east side hospital” demonstrating when places like elmhurst, Bellvue, Methodist have temporary mourges and trailers in front to remove the deceassed. We feel this action should take place in front of those less fortunate hospitals and will wholeheartly support that.action. Thank you for listening.

This is what following looks like

This came out after the above articles were posted

Now Please Get Out Of The Way

On January 20th the first Covid 19 case was diagnosed in the United States. On March 1st the first Covid patient was diagnosed in New York. On March 3rd Pat and Judy refused to cancel Lobby Day so over 600 nurses were gathered in Albany along with a multitude of others. Only after the NYSNA staff union demanded it did The New York NYSNA office close on March 13th.

The program representatives were not told to work from home until after the Governor ordered all non essential personal to stay home. How many NYSNA members and staff were exposed due to Pat and Judy’s irresponsible and self serving actions. How many others were in turn, also exposed, due to these incompetent decisions. We are Nurses. We know how viruses spread and the actions of NYSNA Leadership clearly did nothing to mitigate the spread of this disease. Twitter was more proactive in protecting the community and their staff.

This is not leadership!

Judy we don’t need you flitting around the ED getting in everyone’s way just so you can say you worked with Covid patients. Thankfully you only needed one shift. Anthony we don’t need you posing for the paper in scrubs that you haven’t worn in years. We also don’t need to be paying with our dues for you to put your name on an article you absolutely did not write.

Pat and Judy can you stop pissing off the Governor and the Mayor and the League?

CAN ANYONE EVEN REMEMBER THE LAST TIME ANTHONY CIAMPA WAS SEEN IN SCRUBS?

We need everyone working together to protect our patients and ourselves!

Send us your stories of hope and resilience, your innovative ideas, and most of all your motivations. These are the things we need to share.

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