14 THE COURIER SUN • MAY 19, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com St. Mary’s Hospital Executives are placing care in jeopardy for the most vulnerable children. The young patients of St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Queens depend on the staff to provide compassionate, knowledgeable and consistent care. But this care is being threatened because hospital executives refuse to provide dedicated employees with the benefits we deserve. The 1199SEIU healthcare members at St. Mary’s provide invaluable care and service to severely disabled and challenged children. We are registered nurses and licensed practical nurses; pharmacists; respiratory, physical and occupational therapists; and clerical, service and maintenance employees. That means we contribute to almost all aspects of a child’s stay, from providing highly skilled care and medicines, to helping families with the bills, to ensuring cleanliness and safety. We have been negotiating with St. Mary’s since last August, but they refuse to provide quality health benefits. The benefits available through the 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds are some of the best and most affordable in the nation, with access to extensive doctors. But St. Mary’s is making us pay huge out-of-pocket medical costs, with extra costs for vision and dental care, for an expensive and restrictive plan. As healthcare workers who struggle with long hours and physically and mentally-challenging jobs, we need and deserve the standard health coverage that virtually all members of 1199SEIU have in New York City. We love taking care of our patients, but we also need to take care of our health, and the health of our families. The last thing the St. Mary’s kids need is conflict, but that’s exactly what St. Mary’s management is encouraging when they refuse to budge on this very reasonable proposal. Call St. Mary’s CEO Dr. Edwin Simpser (718) 281-8500 Tell him quality care for our kids depends on healthy caregivers! Brought to you by the caregivers of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
SC05192016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above