MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Colleagues,

 I want to thank everyone who came out to the Membership Meeting. We had standing room only crowds and we conducted 2 sessions in one timeslot to accommodate all the members. It was the largest meeting attended with over 175 members joining together.

Many things are happening quickly in health care. In the last 6 months we have seen the closures of Pascack Valley Hospital, Barnert Hospital, and Greenvile Hospital. Muhlenberg Hospital in Union is about to close and Bayonne Hospital was bought by a for profit company that is now attempting to outsource some units to non-union companies. So much for trust. The payments for charity care have decreased and the amount of people applying has increased. This puts an added burden on the Medical Center to cut costs while providing quality care. This is the part that they need help with. Providing quality care while keeping costs down seems to be very challenging.  They have a great slogan, “World Class Care for One and For All”. Catchy, not reality. You can’t do this without staffing the Hospital.

        At the March 5, 2008 Membership Meeting we discussed the need for you to come out and join us so that we can start planning for the next contract. That too will be challenging. If we don’t start now, we won’t be prepared in 2009. We need to see what issues can be addressed before the contract and see if we can get them settled now rather than later. You have to know that the pension will be a prime target, and we have to strategize. The relationship between the Board of Trustees and the Hospital comes into play as more accountability and transparency is being sought. What comes into play here is if the Board members are just interested in doing business with the hospital and not overseeing what is going on. There has to be checks and balances. HPAE will be looking into these relationships and how they affect the Medical Center.

In the next few months, I am going to ask the Hospital to join us in a few joint ventures. HPAE has a joint venture with Cooper Medical Center to have HIPPA inservices taught by a lawyer.

These are in depth seminars that give CEU’s at the end of the program.  When I went to the Hospital sponsored inservice with Mary Conte, I left there wondering if she knew what HIPPA was.  Another seminar I am excited about is Legal issues in Nursing. The more I work at the Hospital the more I see that nurses aren’t aware of the legalities of Nursing. Just because your boss says to do it, it doesn’t mean it’s legal.

All in all, I think that although we need to address some major issues, we are on the right track. More of our members are speaking up, more complaints about Physician behavior are being recorded and we have unity. That is the most important thing. Respecting each other is the key to success.

In Unity,

Kathi Fonti, President

Local 5030

To the 12 hour members!

You will finally get paid what you deserve! A grievance was filed in Nov 06 and we never gave up on it.  You will now get paid overtime for any hours over 40 hours in a week.  Prior to this you were getting paid based on an 80 hour payperiod. This was not conforming to Labor Laws.  We are negotiating the back payments. We’ll keep you posted.

”TOMMY” IS BACK!!

To anyone who doesn’t know yet, our night Rep, Tom Ball is back after a shoulder injury. We wish him good health and want to let him know without him, the night shift wasn’t the same….neither was the last Membership Meeting.

Possible Changes in Health Insurance to be discussed at Membership Meeting.  Be an informed member…not a “you never told me member…

  Stay active…Stay informed

Sometimes I have to restate what the philosophy is of me, as your President. I try and help everyone without regard to who you are, any past differences with management, or any other factors. I don’t take sides on issues between co workers and I see myself as a fair, straightforward person. When members go to management to complain about other members it makes things very difficult to resolve problems. We have enough issues when Management goes after members. Let’s be wise and not go after each other. If there is a problem, reach out to me or any Officer and we will try and resolve it before it escalates. My email is kathi22654@aol.com

In Unity,

Kathi

The Stretcher Issue

David Berkowitz didn’t like the look of stretchers in the hallway on the second floor. He met with Ed Davis and Irma Diaz. Between these three people they decided to add work to the Nursing Assistants by having them deliver patients to the Harborage and take the abuse of Ed Davis. This is also taking away time from the Medical Center patients as a transport can last 15-30 minutes. What were they thinking? With patient assignments of 15 patients, did we need this or does David Berkowitz have no idea what a Nursing Assistant does? I think it’s the later. Naturally, a grievance was filed. We will update you.

FLOATING

This is the single ugliest part of coming to work. The situation has become almost intolerable and it looks like nothing is being done to resolve the situation. There are actually 3 parts to the issue. The first part is why is it happening, the second part is why are only a full and part time workers being targeted; and third, what about the float zones?

Let’s tackle the first issue. It looks to me that the issue is the ER. If the ER is staffed, the floating is minimal. If the ER isn’t staffed, watch out. Over the last 2 months there have been numerous meetings with Donna Cahill and Ruben about the staffing in the ER. What I see as the problem is that there are 3-4 RN’s on some form of leave and they are not replaced. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there will be a problem. Some suggestions have been to post temporary positions so that Per Diems can have a stable schedule, to reach out to other RN’s who have worked in the ER and ask them to come back or to get temporary staffing. If there are Per Diem nurses that schedule and cancel on a regular basis they have to be counted out. Also the flow of patients have also changed. An ER nurse can walk into 20-30 patients at 7am. This is a major problem as it only is going to get worse. The next ER meeting is scheduled for Feb 27^th at 3:30 and this will address the patient patterns, and the Per Diem cancellation rate. Also, temporary staffing will be discussed. Any suggestions, please let Carol or Joanne know so they can share your suggestions at the meeting.

The second part of this is why aren’t the Per Diem nurses getting pulled? Good question. I had to laugh to myself when Nursing told me that competency was an issue. They felt that the Per Diem nurse lacked competency. That’s funny because they could give a dam about the staff nurse who never went to the ER and wasn’t competent. Competency is my mantra, not theirs. Since when have you heard Nursing say to someone, “Oh, don’t go to the ER today, you’re lacking the competency...let us orient you properly.” Makes you laugh, doesn’t it. Apparently, Adel never tells the Per Diems he hires for CCU or 3E that they have to float. This is being addressed.

Then there is Noelle. Please don’t believe a word she says about the contract. She alone will cost the hospital a pretty penny in overtime that is not correctly paid. She is a staffing clerk not a contract expert. She is working to save the Hospital from paying you. Report any issues to me. She has no regard for float zones. This is why you have to be vigilant.  If you are an LPN and are pulled to 3E and it is above your skill set, call the Supervisor. Tell them you are not comfortable and tell them you are writing an Incident Report and write it! If you are an RN and don’t know ventilators or are in a position of uncertainty, call the Supervisor and make out an Incident Report. Let her know you are doing this.

We are trying very hard to rectify this terrible situation. Come to the meeting and we’ll talk more.

     TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD…

1. HPAE Education Day was a success! Watch for more offerings in September

2. ER/Maternity/Peds 12 hour shift won a huge grievance on back overtime not paid. Congratulations to all!

3. Membership meeting had a huge turnout! Your support is vital for our strength

4. HPAE was instrumental in having the Safe Patient Lift Bill passed which means there will be more safety related devices to protect your back.

5.HPAE was again at the front of the Paid Family Leave Bill which provides up to $500.00/week to people caring for a sick family member.

6. Contract meetings have begun with local and state HPAE Reps. We have asked for the hospital financials to ready ourselves for ’09.

7. We are Local 5030 with the power and strength to succeed. Unity is our best attribute.

8.  January 4, 2008, Governor Corzine signed tViolence Prevention in Health Care Facilities & Safe Patient Handling Act Law!

Department Updates

ER** Still having meetings about staffing and the pilot program

Maintenance** Need to update contract regarding snow removal. Presently, they do not have to come in when called, have no on call pay, and cannot leave early or they will lose their overtime.

Dietary**

Additional Rep Wanted preferably in the Kitchen area. See any Officer for details.

Boiler Room **

Ongoing discussions about safety issues.  Water cooler removed but Medical Center to supply water to the workers in the Boiler Room. They can’t

From the Trenches

During the past few months the staffing levels have seen a decline and floating from 5w and 4e has become a problem to say the least. PCU nurses are floated to the ER and CCU. It appears that the management feels, if you are ACLS certified, you are Superman or Wonder Woman and can do all the tasks that are done in each respective unit. The truth is a PCU nurse is not a CCU or an ER nurse. As we well know they are working out of their skill and knowledge level. Med-surg nurses that are floated to PCU are out of their level as well. Management says “Let the charge nurse know if you feel uncomfortable or are lacking the training to maintain a drip,” which are common on 3E. The truth is you should not be there in the first place. Many RN’s that work in med-surg have ACLS certification and the staffing co-coordinator seems to think that this qualifies them to float you to PCU. If that’s the case, you would be better off letting your ACLS expire. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul. We see it all the time, med surg nurse to 3e that PCU nurse to CCU and then a CCU nurse to the ER. This type of logic will backfire some day, and when it happens they will blame the nurse for taking an assignment  that they were not qualified to fill. Not only are the floated nurse and the PATIENTS at risk, but the nurses that are working in the respective units that have burden of trying to cover for the lack of knowledge that the floated nurse. The bottom line is that management is playing checkers with nursing coverage. It appears that the only time there is enough nurses and nursing assistance is when Joint Commission or the State is coming. Perhaps management should plan staffing around the possibility that the State is coming, and we are due for a visit from Joint Commission soon.

Speaking of the State, Bernie Gerard, our HPAE Vice President, obtained a report from the Dept. of Health for a visit that they made during the month of March. This report is available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. In this period from March 4 to March 17 on the 5^th floor they had 25 deficiencies related to staffing levels. On the day and evening shift they had understaffed in the use of licensed staff any where from 1 to 3.5 RN or LPN in this period. In the State report they based their findings on the day shift charge nurse not being included in the total licensed staff required by the hospitals own staffing matrix. When was the last time you had a charge nurse without a district? Again, staffing is adequate when the State is here and not when they leave.

I conducted a similar survey based on the same data as the State on the 5^th floor for the month of September on all tours, I found, based on the hospital staffing matrix, on the day shift the charge nurse always had a district and they short staffed the use of licensed personnel by anywhere from 2–4 persons on 16 different occasions. On the evening shift it was short staffed also by 2-4 persons on 14 occasions. The hospital is required to file a Plan of Correction on any deficiency, their response “is every effort will be made to ensure compliance with the staffing matrix.” It does not appear that they are doing a very good job.

We are going to be following the staffing matrix closely. Perhaps the State needs to take another look at the staffing records and the staffing ratios.

Speaking of staffing of ratios, it is required by the State to post in a conspicuous location the amount of nurses and the amount of patient that each has assigned to them in order that the patients or their families may be well informed. On a recent visit I made to 4E I noticed that this practice was not done. If I were a patient I would like to know how many patients my nurse had to care for. Let’s get that posted on 4E.

I know you may feel that the short staffing reports are useless. I am suggesting that along with each short staffing report that you provide an assignment sheet , similar to the one used on the 5^th floor, which  indicates the amount of patients each nurse has, the nursing assistances and the amount of patients they have , and any special circumstances such as vents,VIP, prisoners or 1 to 1 sitters. I will see to it that these forms are available; it will make it easier to track the requirements.

On another note here are some questions that management needs to answer…

1) Why are per diems cancelled to make 10-1 nurse ratios?

2) How can you take a nurse away from their patient to do rounds for 15 to 30 min. daily and expect they get their work done without staying late or charting on their meal period?

3) Why is there no break/lunch relief for Peds and are they getting paid for it?

Inquiring minds want to know!

                                                                        Rich Dyer