New York State Nurses Association nurses held a candlelight vigil outside NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope on May 26, calling attention to the rise in workplace violence and demanding that hospital management negotiate a contract that protects patient and nurse safety.
The union contract for the nearly 1,600 NYSNA nurses at Brooklyn Methodist expired on April 30, and in the wake of rising violence at the hospital, including a fatal shooting in January, they are calling on the hospital administration to agree to a fair contract that includes enforceable safe staffing ratios, sufficient nurse coverage and strong workplace health and safety protections
Those protections would include meaningful safeguards against harassment and workplace violence and a behavioral health rapid response team to manage patients or visitors in mental health crises.
Aldrich Crispino noted that a safe work environment for nurses equaled safer patients, stronger hospitals, and healthier communities. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
According to a 2023 report by National Nurses United, eight in 10 nurses have experienced at least one type of workplace violence. Almost half of nurses surveyed reported an increase in workplace violence on their unit in the previous year, compared to only 3.8% who said workplace violence had decreased on their unit.
Nurses also reported that they experienced multiple types of workplace violence on a daily basis, ranging from physical abuse to verbal threats. The three most common types of violence reported were being verbally threatened (67.8%), physically threatened (38.7%), and being pinched or scratched (37.3%).
Aldrich Crispino, a registered nurse and NYSNA president at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, urged hospital management to bargain in good faith and commit to policies that protect patients’ and nurses’ safety, noting that a safe work environment for nurses equaled safer patients, stronger hospitals, and healthier communities.
Nurses urged NewYork-Presbyterian to bargain in good faith for a new contract. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
“Every nurse deserves to feel safe at work. No one should fear being hit, threatened, screamed at, sexually harassed, or injured while caring for another human being,” Crispino told the crowd of about 200 nurses holding LED tealights. “Behind every statistic is a real person: a nurse who went to work and got a broken arm, a colleague struggling with anxiety after an assault, a healthcare worker who left the profession they love because the trauma became too heavy to carry, and all of us can relate to this. When nurses are not protected, patient care suffers too.”
Registered nurses, Veronica Carnero and Jolie Tumar shared their experience with workplace violence at NYP Brooklyn Hospital and the impact understaffing has on the safety of nurses and patients.
Last November, Carnero suffered partial tears in two places in her wrist after a patient who was confused, agitated, and trying to leave attacked her.
While trying to prevent the patient from leaving the unit by holding the stairway door shut, Carnero said she asked doctors who were passing by for help. They just told the patient to listen to Carnero and return to his room.
“Seconds later, the patient grabbed my arm and twisted it,” she recalled.
Some nurses said they had been injured on the job, and were not given support or resources to recover. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Carnero said that even though she was in pain, the covering supervisor didn’t seem concerned about her well-being and safety, telling her to take a break and go to the Emergency Room after her shift had ended. She ignored the order and ended her shift to seek medical attention.
Instead of support, Carnero said, the hospital stuck her with recurring bills and just 60% of her salary through workers’ compensation — a 40% pay cut after being injured by a patient working in a short-staffed unit.
“We do not give 60% at bedside; we give everything, every shift, every patient, every time, and when we are injured by an act of violence while protecting the people in our care, we deserve to be made whole,” Carnero said. “We deserve paid time off after an assault to deal with all the medical and legal issues that result. We take care of everyone who walks through these doors. It is long past time that this hospital took care of us.”
Tumar, who has worked as an ER nurse at Brooklyn Methodist for 22 years, said the emergency room is chronically understaffed and overwhelmed by a surge of patients, including those with mental health needs. They often remain in the ER for days, she said, while nurses have to simultaneously care for patients experiencing critical medical emergencies, like strokes and cardiac arrests.
ER nurse Jolie Tumar said the ER was overwhelmed with patients experiencing a mental health crisis. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
“There’s not enough help. We’ll keep getting injured. Work safety violence is nonstop,” Tumar said.
Brooklyn lawmakers expressed their strong support for the hospital’s nurses.
In a joint letter addressed to NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital management, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, state Sen. Jabari Brisport, Assembly members Jo Anne Simon, Phara Souffrant Forrest, and Robert Carroll; and Council members Shahana Hanif, Mercedes Narcisse, Alexa Avilés, Kayla Santosuosso, and Lincoln Restler urged the hospital administration to bargain in good faith and swiftly reach a fair contract.
NewYork-Presbyterian told Brooklyn Paper in a statement that it remained committed to bargaining in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable contract agreement, reflecting the challenging realities of today’s health care landscape.
“While bargaining got off to a positive and constructive start, including early alignment on pension and benefit contributions, that progress has slowed despite the involvement of a mediator. In the interest of moving us forward, we have presented an increased wage offer and a revised staffing proposal with enhanced ratios. Our latest counterproposal on the important subject of workplace violence prevention is similar to contract language recently ratified by thousands of New York nurses. Our proposal would include our nurses in developing ideas to build on the significant workplace safety measures we’ve already implemented,” the statement reads.