Our Perspective
New Yorkers Deserve
More from Macy’s
than Fireworks
By Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW
Twitter: @sappelbaum
BRONX TIMES R 4 EPORTER,MAY 1-7, 2020 BTR
Hospital Heroes:
Monitoring Ventilators
The respiratory team at St. Barnabas Hospital
St. Barnabas Hospital
above and beyond, working extremely hard,
pushing and giving everything,” said Martin
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BY ST. BARNABAS HOSPITAL
Many COVID-19 patients come into St.
Barnabas Hospital gasping for breath.
This is what makes Tracey Martin-
Johnson, who heads the hospital’s respiratory
therapy department, such a critical
player during the pandemic. She and her
team, including supervisors Radhames Rodriguez
and Shackera Abbott-Barcoo, work
closely with ICU/ER physicians at patient
bedsides, managing and monitoring ventilators
and other breathing devices.
“Ventilator management is at the core
of what we do,” said Martin-Johnson, who
works with a team of about two dozen respiratory
professionals. “Once the patient is intubated,
we put them on the breathing machine,
monitor their status and assist them
until they become well enough to come off
the machine.”
The ventilator is a life support treatment
that helps people breathe when they
can’t do it on their own. In many cases, this
mechanical device makes the difference between
life and death. The respiratory team
makes changes on the ventilator as needed,
draws arterial blood gases and works with
the physicians on appropriate ventilator
settings. Once the green light is given by
the physician, they wean the patient from
the mechanical device.
Martin-Johnson alerts the medical team
to any acute shortage of ventilators, an ongoing
problem at St. Barnabas Hospital and
many New York City hospitals. This may
mean testing to see if patients with chronic
respiratory problems who are hospitalized,
and don’t have the COVID-19 virus, can tolerate
being taken off the traditional ventilators
using a non-invasive machine to provide
support so ventilators can be saved for
those patients most dependent on them.
The entire respiratory therapy team is
also responsible for the infection control
process of the ventilators so that once the
patient has been extubated, the machine
can be put back into rotation expeditiously ¯
a process which can take as little as 30 minutes.
“The team – each individual works 12-
hour shifts as part of the department’s 24/7
responsibility – has been continually going
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Johnson.
“Tracy has a remarkable knowledge
of a broad range of ventilators. We get all
kinds of ventilators and she’s fi gured out
how to use them all,” according to Dr. Edward
Telzak, chair of the department of
medicine at SBH, who works closely with
the respiratory therapy team and anesthesia
department on testing various respiratory
options.
Like other health care workers on the
front line, safety is a major concern.
“As health care workers, we have chosen
this profession. I’m passionate about
the work I do. Yet, safety is important,” said
Martin-Johnson. “In my huddles, I’m very
forward with staff that safety is a priority
because I don’t want them to get sick. As
far as PPE (personal protective equipment)
goes, I’m very much on top of this.”
This includes hand delivering appropriate
PPE to all staff members at the beginning
of each shift and reminding them
to use hand sanitizers and washing their
hands regularly.
“Our limited numbers pose one of our
main challenges,” she said. “But it’s very
satisfying that we have been sticking together
as a team during a very tough time.”
Macy’s announcement that it wanted to go
ahead with its July 4th fireworks display
in the midst of this pandemic should be
disturbing to all New Yorkers for several reasons.
Macy’s should not be spending millions on fireworks after laying off
its entire workforce. Most of their employees cannot even afford health
care coverage at this time. Many Macy’s employees have worked for the
company for decades, and now they are on the street with nothing from
their employer.
Furthermore, they are putting New Yorkers at risk unnecessarily – in
order to use our city as a backdrop for their nationally televised commercial
for themselves. Most New Yorkers don’t have balconies overlooking the
East River. The last thing we want to do is to encourage people to come
together in large groups in order to see fireworks. Social distancing at
the fireworks display is a joke. That is why Mayor de Blasio rightfully
cancelled other large events for the entire month of June, including the
Pride Parade which would have been held just a few days before.
If Macy’s really cares about New Yorkers, they should be spending
that money on healthcare coverage for their hardworking New York
employees. That would be the real way to show your patriotism.
But that’s not even the worst of it. What is even more outrageous is
that Macy’s is insisting on holding contract negotiations in the midst of
Governor Cuomo’s “stay at home” order. Yes, the contract between Macy’s
and its workers’ union is expiring soon. The stores are closed, nobody is
working, and neither party has any clue what the future will hold. How do
you negotiate in good faith when the company is unable to tell you when
each store will reopen or how it will reopen, or for what hours and with
what staffing needs? And nobody has any clue what customer traffic will
look like when New York’s economy does begin to re-open.
Macy’s even suggested having the three dozen members of the
union’s negotiating committee travel from all over New York City to
Manhattan for face-to-face negotiations at the beginning of May – in
defiance of Governor Cuomo’s “stay at home” order.
As we have done elsewhere, we have proposed postponing
negotiations and extending the current contract until both sides will
have some sense of what the future will look like and what we will be
negotiating for. We suggested extending the current contract for a year,
and Macy’s said “no.” We then suggested extending the contract for at
least six months, and Macy’s again said “no.”
So why is Macy’s insisting on negotiating now? It simply appears that
they are trying to take advantage of this current crisis for their own ends.
It defies common sense to insist these negotiations go on in the
coming weeks. Workers cannot adequately prepare for contract
negotiations with so many unknowns. Nor is there any serious need to
do it now.
We are all adapting to our new reality as New York responds to this
crisis. Macy’s needs to adapt to this reality now. Just as it shouldn’t be
promising a fireworks show that encourages New
Yorkers to gather in crowds to enjoy it, Macy’s
shouldn’t pretend that it’s business as usual when
it comes to these negotiations. This “pause” is
for everybody Macy’s, even you.
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