Since Monday morning, more than 7,000 nurses from Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center—two private New York City health care systems—have been on strike for better working conditions. The hospitals’ workers are represented by the New York State Nurses Association, and their union contracts expired on December 31. Since then, the union has been asking the hospitals’ management for fair wages and adequate staffing. But when negotiations late Sunday night fell apart, thousands decided to strike. Their actions reflect a larger trend of nurses stepping away from their jobs in order to demand safe, healthy environments—for themselves, and for their patients.
Montefiore issued a statement on Monday saying the company had offered a 19.1% wage increase to the nurses represented by the union, but nurses who are currently on strike tell SELF they won’t go back to work without the adequate staffing that they need in order to know they can keep patients safe.
Ana Reyes, a nurse who works on a surgical floor at Montefiore, says that many of her colleagues are overworked—and exhausted by the toll the pandemic has taken. “A lot of nurses have PTSD and are seriously burnt-out from COVID,” Reyes tells SELF. As she sees it, staffing shortages have added stress to an already weakened workforce. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and I’ve trained so many nurses over the years,” Reyes says. “[Now,] I’m seeing them walk right out within six months. They’re leaving us for other institutions where they see the staffing is appropriate.” Reyes adds that Montefiore currently has about 700 nursing vacancies—and that she fears more nurses will leave due to the chaos of the current strike. Similarly, Mount Sinai Hospital had more than 500 nursing openings as of last week, according to the NYSNA.
Reyes says that a single nurse in her role should only be in charge of five patients. However, due to staffing shortages, they’re often asked to care for more. “We should be at a one-to-five ratio, but it has not been maintained,” she says. Reyes alleges that, even when the one-to-five ratio is in place, nurses are asked to take on the tasks of other staff members, such as secretaries. “We’re doing other people’s jobs,” she says.
Overworked nurses and their families aren’t the only people affected by the current strain, Christine Higgins, a certified nurse-midwife at Montefiore, tells SELF. “Nurses are the largest constituents of our health care workforce; the brunt of the work inside health care is done by nurses,” she says. “Your nurse is the person who’s providing you with education.” That education includes explaining crucial information to patients, like how to monitor your blood pressure or how to safely swaddle your newborn.
If nurses don’t have enough hours in the day, very important questions patients need answers to can be overlooked. “When we are put in a position where we are taking care of so many patients that we don’t have the time to do more than the most rudimentary assessment, the patient suffers,” Higgins says.
This has real consequences for anyone who relies on the health care system. Reyes says, “Being a nurse is making sure [patients are] getting better, [and] being able to see things before they go wrong, but now we don’t have that—we don’t have the time to catch things.”
Patients aside, nurses themselves are in crisis, Reyes says. She says it’s not unusual to work a 12.5 hour shift without a break, and that nurses are treated like machines: “[It’s] like, ‘Let’s put in another battery, because we’re not allowed to take a bathroom break, have coffee, take a minute, check on your kids, your loved ones.’ We don’t get that.”
Reyes adds that her patients often notice—and comment on—how overworked she is. “I’ve had patients look at me—and they’re in [a hospital] bed—and they’re like, ‘You haven’t taken a break. Please go eat something,’” she says. “It’s amazing how we’re getting support from the patients as well.”
In addition to showing compassion to nurses you come into contact with—and all health care workers—there are some concrete ways you can show support to nurses right now, both those on strike and those at work, regardless of where you receive your health care.
How to show support to nurses on strike
- Join nurses on the picket line. When and if nurses in your community go on strike, consider showing up physically if you’re able. (Information on where NYSNA nurses are currently striking can be found here.)
- Sign a pledge of support. When workers go on strike, a petition or pledge is often circulated through social media or local news outlets. Signing it is a quick, easy way to back their cause. (You can find NYSNA’s pledge for nurses on strike right now at welovenynurses.org.) After you’ve signed, consider sharing the link on your social accounts to make other community members aware of how they can help.
How to show support to nurses at work
- Reach out to nurses you know to thank them for all they do for their community. New York isn’t the only place where nurses are having to strike for safe working conditions right now. Last summer, 15,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike, and just last month, nurses of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) went on strike for the first time in the agency’s 74-year history, per The New York Times. Given the breadth of the issues that nurses are facing, touch base with the nurses in your family or friend group and offer a word of support. Consider sending them flowers or a card, or just reaching out to check in.
- Send nurses who have cared for you (or your loved ones) a thank you note. A hospital stay—planned or not—is always a little jarring, and nurses constantly help put patients at ease by answering questions, providing information, and liaising between patients and doctors. Show appreciation for the physical and emotional work they put in by sending them a thank you card after you (or your loved one) are discharged.
- If nurses in your community are organizing, be prepared to take action. When workers have to threaten to strike for healthy and safe working conditions, it often makes the news. If you hear that nurses in your community are in this position, reach out to their union to see how you can help. You may be asked to contact a local hospital board to let them know you stand with nurses, to donate to strike funds, or to get involved some other way.
The end date of the NYSNA strike is currently unknown. As it progresses, it’s a strong reminder of how essential to the health of our communities nurses are—and that it’s important to support nurses all the time, not only in crises. “I’m here [because] it matters to me how well our patients are cared for,” Higgins says. Reyes adds that she and her fellow nurses are hopeful an agreement can be reached ASAP, saying, “We hope to get back to work soon.”
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Maggie O’Neill