Seidel said that just a month ago, she was speaking outside of a hospital in Erie County, near Buffalo, after a similar attack on a nurse there. Unfortunately, she said, hospital officials there did not stand beside the nurses as Franklin Hospital leaders did Tuesday morning.

“This means a lot to us,” she said of the partnership between NYSNA, Franklin Hospital and North Shore-LIJ leaders in finding solutions to end violence against nurses. Seidel also gave some troubling statistics, including how nearly 500,000 nurses each year incur some form of workplace violence.

State Sen. Craig Johnson and Assemblyman David McDonough both threw their support behind nurses. McDonough said he was pleased that the previous law passed with bipartisan support, but more needs to be done to prevent the types of incidents as what occurred at Franklin Hospital last week. Specifically, he said, better patient-to-nurse ratios are needed to make situations more manageable. “We can pass legislation to encourage that,” he said.