BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Through rally cries of “shame on
you” and “hire more nurses,” Bronx
nurses are seeing red with Montefi ore
Medical Center administrators who
they claim have not met critically unsafe
staffi ng conditions.
The shortages, nurses say, have
led to incidences of inadequate patient
care within Montefi ore’s Bronxcentric
network. From stories of overcrowded
emergency rooms with two or
three nurses — attending to 70 or more
patients — to claims of patients being
treated in hallways, one Montefi ore
nurse told the Bronx Times they believe
that hospital network’s administrators
are more concerned with “maximizing
profi t, than patient care.”
Members of the New York State
Nurses Association told The Bronx
Times that understaffi ng has been an
evergreen issue dating back to before
the COVID-19 pandemic with administrators
failing to address an estimated
390-plus vacancies in the Montefi ore
Moses, Montefi ore Weiler and Montefi
ore Children’s Hospital locations.
Recently, NYSNA petitioned the
state’s Department of Labor to investigate
Montefi ore for incidents such
as a nurse recently working 24 hours
straight. Montefi ore offi cials told the
Bronx Times that they have not received
a notice from the Department of Labor.
“We have contacted the NYS Department
of Labor because recently Montefi
ore has mandated several RNs registered
nurses to work up to 12 additional
hours of overtime after already having
worked a 12 hour shift. So RNs were
forced to work 24 hours straight,” Carl
Ginsburg, spokesperson for NYSNA told
the Bronx Times. “There is a mandatory
overtime law for (registered nurses) in
the state which prohibits employers
from mandating overtime except in specifi
c circumstances. We are hoping to
hear back from NYS DOL soon to discuss
these serious issues.”
According to NYSNA, Montefi ore
has 393 posted and vacant positions, and
261 more vacant positions that are not
being recruited for at all. In the three
hospitals’ Emergency Departments
alone, there are 81 vacancies.
There are currently more than 9,300
openings for registered nurses in New
York state, according to NYNSA.
Across the nation, nurses are at a
SUMMONS
(Child Neglect Proceeding)
Docket No. NN-06932-35/2021
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 24 EC. 17-23, 2021 BTR
State Assemblywoman Karines Reyes — a registered nurse in the Oncology Department
at Montefi ore Einstein Hospital — called on the Montefi ore administration to improve its
staffi ng conditions at a rally last week in Gun Hill. Photo Robbie Sequeira
premium. One of the leading causes
for an exodus of experienced nurses is
burnout which has been exacerbated by,
and remains acute 20 months into, the
pandemic.
About half of medical workers reported
feeling burnout during 2020, according
to a study from the American
Medical Association. Almost half of
ICU nurses said in another survey earlier
this year that they were considering
leaving the profession.
New York state offi cials hope a
change to state law that requires every
hospital in the state to establish minimum
staffi ng standards for intensive
and critical care units can help alleviate
the dire need for staffi ng. Senate Bill
1168 requires certain facilities establish
clinical staffi ng committees in an effort
to improve worker and patient safety,
and reduce workplace injuries. While
the nurses acknowledge it will help
with transparency with staffi ng levels,
they say it won’t force hospitals to hire
more nurses.
NYNSA offi cials don’t expect the
change to be “enforceable” until 2023.
“We will have a committee with
management where we sit down and
look unit by unit and come up with a
clinical staffi ng plan. Those plans won’t
be enforceable under the law until 2023,”
said Pat Kane, executive director of the
New York State Nurses Association.
Montefi ore pediatric nurses like Julian
Grant said that their wings are
short 19 registered nurses, and sometimes
there is only one RN at 7 a.m.,
staffi ng the entire ER.
“It’s exhausting. We do this job because
we love to help and care for our patients,
but how can we with long hours,
unmanageable staffi ng shortages and
being ignored?” said Grant.
According to other nurses working
at Bronx Montefi ore locations, in adult
emergency rooms nurses are being
tasked with caring for 15-20 patients or
even more at one time — a huge disparity
from the customary 5-6 patient load
per nurse.
A Montefi ore spokesperson did not
confi rm to the Bronx Times how many
active vacancies are in their network,
but said they are “working every day to
fi ll any vacancies and explore new recruitment
and retention strategies.”
However, nurses rallying outside the
Montefi ore Moses location in the Gun
Hill Road section of the Bronx on Thursday
said that their concerns have been
ignored by Montefi ore administrators.
“Whether you fi nd yourself as a patient
in the Bronx or Manhattan, you
deserve safe, quality care,” said NYSNA
President Nancy Hagans. “The staffi ng
crisis did not start yesterday, or even
during the pandemic. But the ongoing
pandemic, along with the shortsightedness
of health care systems like Montefi
ore, has exacerbated the problem and
led to this crisis we see today. Nurses
are asking Montefi ore to do more for
nurses and patients.”
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, a 38-year
ER nurse at Montefi ore says it’s a struggle
for survival in the Bronx because of
hospital practices that put profi ts over
patients.
Bronx state Assemblywoman Karines
Reyes, who is also registered
nurse in the Oncology Department at
Montefi ore Einstein Hospital and was
on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic
said that staffi ng remains an issue.
“We are Montefi ore. Montefi ore is
nothing without its nurses on,” the
Progressive Reyes said. “We’ve been
talking about staffi ng for forever.”
Hoping to address the state’s shortage
of frontline workers, Democratic
Gov. Kathy Hochul, last week, announced
a program called the Nurses
For Our Future Scholarship that will
cover tuition for 1,000 new health care
workers to get RNs at SUNY and CUNY.
The program comes in an effort to
help address the shortage in health
care and lack of workers in hospitals
around the state.
“Just a year ago, we were celebrating
our health care workers as the heroes
they are, and the pandemic has
shown us that we cannot afford a labor
shortage in the health care industry,”
Hochul said.
Nurses, elected offi cials
pressure Montefi ore to
address staffi ng conditions
FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF THE BRONX
---------------------------------------------------------------
In the Matter of
THE GARCIA CHILDREN
a Proceeding under
Article 10 of the Family Court Act
ISMAEL GARCIA
Respondent(s)
---------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE: PLACEMENT OF YOUR CHILD IN FOSTER CARE MAY RESULT IN YOUR LOSS OF YOUR
RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF YOUR CHILD STAYS IN FOSTER CARE FOR 15 OF THE MOST RECENT
22 MONTHS, THE AGENCY MAY BE REQUIRED BY LAW TO FILE A PETITION TO TERMINATE
YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO COMMIT GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD TO
THE AGENCY FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION. IN SOME CASES, THE AGENCY MAY FILE
BEFORE THE END OF THE 15-MONTH PERIOD. IF SEVERE OR REPEATED CHILD ABUSE IS
PROVEN BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE, THIS FINDING MAY CONSTITUTE THE BASIS
TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO COMMIT GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OF
YOUR CHILD TO THE AGENCY FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION.
IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK TO THE ABOVE-NAMED
RESPONDENT(S) WHO RESIDE(S) OR IS FOUND AT:
LKA
252 Robinson Avenue, #1
Bronx, New York 10465
And to: ISMAEL GARCIA: Biological Father/PLR
A Petition under Article 10 of the Family Court Act having been filed with this Court, and annexed hereto
YOU AND EACH OF YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before the Honorable Cynthia Lopez
in virtual Court at, 900 Sheridan Avenue, Bronx, New York, on JANUARY 4, 2022, VIRTUAL COURT
Part 8 Virtual Courtroom: https://notify.nycourts.gov/meet/0vvpb2 Or call 347-378-4143 Conference
ID: 173 206 941# at 09:30 A.M. o’clock in the afternoon of that day to answer the petition and to be dealt
with in accordance with Article 10 of the Family Court Act. You are permitted to call in on DECEMBER 14,
2021, at the above-number to participate in the court hearing.
On your failure to appear as herein directed, a warrant may be issued for your arrest.
Date: 11/10/2021 Stephen Byrne__
Clerk of the Court
FURTHER NOTICE: Family Court Act §154(c) provides that petitions brought pursuant to Articles 4,5,6,8
and 10 of the Family Court Act, in which an order of protection is sought or in which a violation of an order
of protection is alleged, may be served outside the State of New York upon a Respondent who is not a
resident or domiciliary of the State of New York. If no other grounds for obtaining personal jurisdiction over
the Respondent exist aside from the application of this provision, the exercise of personal jurisdiction over
the respondent is limited to the issue of the request for, or alleged violation of, the order of protection.
Where the Respondent has been served with this summons and petition and does not appear, the Family
Court may proceed to a hearing with respect to issuance or enforcement of the order of protection.
/0vvpb2
/0vvpb2