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NURSES STATIONPEF nurses speak to legislators about needed lawsStory and photosby DEBORAH A. MILESMore than 300 nurses and health careworkers visited state lawmakers May 24in Albany to push for legislation toimprove patient care in New York.PEF nurses, who participated in theday with other union nurses andprofessionals, told legislators theirpersonal stories about why the SafePatient Handling bill (A1370-A/S2470-A)and the Safe Staffing For Quality Care Act(A921/S4553) would make a differencefor patients and nurses. (See page 7 formore information.)PEF President Ken Brynien addressedthe nurses before the scheduledappointments.“It doesn’t matter if you work in ahospital, nursing home, veterans home ora community residence, there arechallenges,” Brynien said. “As nurses, youhave people who are putting their lives inyour hands. You need to do the rightthing and your employers need to do theright thing.“The people who can make thingsbetter are the state legislators. Your tasktoday is not only to tell them yourpersonal stories, but to demand they act.Send the message: ‘Nurses need to besafe, so they can care for thecommunity.’”Jemma Marie-Hanson, chair of theNurses Committee and PEF Region 11coordinator, also addressed the crowd.STRENGTH IN NUMBERS — PEF nurses speak to state Assembly Member EarleneHooper about laws to advance quality patient care.They are Mona Charles, ElizabethJose, Mary Phillips, Deborah Coleman, Carrie Saunders, Icilda Innocent, SurinderRaryila, Usha George, Gracey James and (seated) Hooper with PEF Region 11Coordinator Jemma Marie-Hanson.ON THEIR WAY— A group from SUNY Downstate Medical Center pauses beforemeeting with state Sen. Michael Gianaris. Shown are Gale Baptiste, JosephineHeadley, Imabel Saniel, Joan Rosegreen, Darryl Stevenson (Parole), Andrea Harry,Denise Dyer and Sharmine Alleyne.“Nurses lift an average of 1.8 tonsduring an eight-hour shift, according tothe Zero Lift Task Force,” Marie-Hansonsaid. “The accumulative effect of thistrauma of manual lifting and transferringpatients has led to career-ending injuries.Injuries affect nearly 40 percent of ournurses. Our patients also have sustainedfractures, bruising and skin tears fromunsafe manual lifting.“Tell our legislators the programs thatpromote safe patient handling actuallydecrease costs in the long run. Facilitieswith safe-patient–handling programs,such as the state Veterans Home inBatavia, have shown up to a 93 percentreduction in workers’ compensationclaims, lost workdays, overtime and staffshortages. That is why this legislation iscrucial,” Marie-Hanson said.The nurses took her advice when theymet with lawmakers or their assistants.Fred Bulmer and Kolbe O’Neill toldstate Sen. Hugh Farley’s assistant aboutthe dangers of short staffing at theCapital District Psychiatric Center(CDPC).“We delivered our message withexamples, such as how nurses working atCDPC must wait five to six hours to use awashroom because of short staffing,”Bulmer said. “And sometimes one nurseis left to oversee up to 20 patients.”Dan Leffingwell,assistant director of youthnursing services at thestate Office of Childrenand Family Services, saidthose same problems andconcerns affect nurses inhospital settings.“These are statewideissues, across-the-board,”Leffingwell said.LEFFINGWELLCarrieSaunders,an occupational therapistfrom the BrooklynDevelopmental DisabilitiesServices Office, joined anumber of SUNYDownstate Medical Centernurses on Nurses LobbyDay.“Nurses play a vital rolewhen it comes to treatingSAUNDERSindividuals. I’m here tosupport them,” Saunders said. “Ourconcerns focus on quality patient care.These issues can be a matter of life anddeath for otherwise healthy patients.”Page 10 —The Communicator July/August 2011 PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445