Over the past week and a half, I’ve spent countless hours sitting beside my grandfather’s hospital bed at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore. I wish I could say he was receiving compassionate, timely and attentive care. But the truth is, he hasn’t. And that was heartbreaking.
Time and again, I’ve watched him press the call button and wait endlessly for help to use the bathroom, to get clean or simply to receive a cup of water. I’ve witnessed his dinner order not arrive, and the staff casually tell him there’s “nothing that can be done” because the kitchen had closed, even though he put the request in well before the deadline. I’ve watched his IVs sit unchanged for hours and medications delayed far beyond what’s safe. And I can’t help but ask: If this is how he’s treated when I’m in the room — when someone is watching — what happens when no one is?
This is not to villainize the hospital staff. I see their exhaustion. I see their stretched-thin schedules. I see the burnout in their faces. But that’s the very problem. Our health care workers are overwhelmed and unsupported. And when they suffer, patients suffer too.
That’s why we need to talk seriously about putting the care back in health care, and it starts with policy. Earlier this year, Maryland lawmakers had the opportunity to pass the Safe Staffing Act (S.B. 720), a commonsense piece of legislation that would’ve improved working conditions for hospital staff and, as a result, improved care for patients like my grandfather. The bill called for each Maryland hospital to establish Safe Staffing Committees made up of frontline workers, support staff, physicians and even patient advocates. These committees would have created staffing guidelines tailored to each hospital’s needs and shared data on staffing and patient outcomes with the state.
It was a bill built on collaboration, on listening to the people actually doing the work. And it passed the full House. But in the Senate, it was stalled, watered down by last-minute amendments, and ultimately blocked in the Finance Committee, despite support from many members. The opposition of the committee chair, Sen. Pam Beidle, ensured that the bill never crossed the finish line.
And that failure has consequences. It means more hospital staff leaving the field. It means longer ER wait times. It means vulnerable patients being left alone, unseen, unheard. It means families like mine suffer needlessly, wondering why a basic standard of care feels so out of reach.
We can and must do better. Maryland has an obligation to protect both its patients and its health care workers. We need policies that prioritize quality care through adequate staffing and institutional accountability. The Safe Staffing Act must be reintroduced and passed next January, not weakened, not stalled. Our leaders must have the courage to stand with those most affected.
My grandfather is a father, a veteran and a neighbor; and he deserves better. So does every other person lying in a hospital bed right now, waiting too long for help that may never come.
Let’s fix what’s broken. Let’s put the care back in health care.
Janay Fenner is a Baltimore resident and communications coordinator at the nonprofit advocacy organization Progressive Maryland.