Nurses rally over staffing concerns

MVHS nurses rallied outside of St.

Elizabeth Medical Center Monday to push for a full staff and fair contracts.

Back to work.... after being laid off in the coronavirus pandemic.

The union that represents them....says....it's because they fought for them to be brought back.

Today -- many nurses rallied outside saint elizabeth medical center...letting the public know they are in contract negotiations with mvhs.

--signs read "be fair to those who care" and "people over profits".

Nysna, the new york state nurses association, represents about 300 nurses at st.

Es.

--the union is calling for appropriate staffing at all times.

23:13:35 the issue we have is that too many hospitals are looking at hospitals as a business.

It's a not for profit.

So the way we look at it is you keep the hospital staffed correctly.

Because it's a profession you can't tell people ok, go home for three months and then come back, things change everyday in the healthcare field.

Things change every day in the number of patients you may or may not see :00 contract negotiations continue.

The chief human resource officer for mvhs says, in part, quote: "it's important to note that the furlough and layoff of approximately 20 percent of the mvhs workforce in april was part of a covid-19 recovery plan, which was designed to address financial losses associated with the pandemic.

This plan was put in place with patient safety at the forefront.

Reduced staffing at that time was an option because the number of patients coming to mvhs dropped significantly, to less than 50 percent of what is are our "usual" volumes, due to the suspension of elective surgery and reduction of other medical and health- related services.

Fewer patients meant that the same level of staffing wasn't necessary."

All but five nurses have returned to work at st.

E's.

Time for a first look at the forecast in this half hour.

Here's