By MIKE CAPUTO
An inflatable 12-foot rat, that is.
The rodent was a union's way of sending a message to the Nassau Health Care Corporation, which operates the public-benefit hospital in East Meadow. Members of the Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, which represents some 3,400 staffers at the NUMC, the A. Holly Paterson Extended Care Center in Uniondale and outlying community health clinics, expressed their displeasure with a decision to change nurses' schedules from three 12-hour shifts to five eight-hour shifts.
Opponents of the change say many nurses have been forced to make adjustments, especially those who are now required to work every weekend. "They have no family life," said Linda DiMonda, a registered nurse and the union's executive vice president. "Some can't even go to church."
The union's contract with NHCC expires on Dec. 31. Representatives of both sides said they are still in the early stages of negotiating a new agreement.
The union's demonstration began on July 17, the final day of a critical week for the NUMC, which had been surveyed by the Joint Commission, the nation's predominant health care standard-setting and accrediting body.
As hospital officials awaited the official results of the five-day survey this week, NHCC's president and CEO, Arthur Gianelli, criticized the union's decision to demonstrate during the Joint Commission's visit, which occurs once every three years.
"The timing of the placement of the rat - the final day of a very important Joint Commission survey - speaks volumes about the union," Gianelli said. "It says, basically, that this union works in opposition to - and in fact undermines - the success of the corporation. Fortunately, the corporation will succeed in spite of their juvenile behavior."
In May, CSEA President Jerry Laricchiuta led a demonstration with hundreds of union members at the NUMC, urging the county to retake control of the hospital as a way of addressing what Laricchiuta said was an uncertain future for the public-benefit corporation.
In 1999, the county turned the operation of NUMC and the A. Holly Paterson Center, a geriatric facility in Uniondale, over to the NHCC, a public-benefit corporation.
The change in nursing shifts, which went into effect on June 7, highlighted a series of cost-cutting moves implemented to address a major budget deficit. Union leaders said there has been a drop in nurse coverage, and many staffers must take on mandated overtime, a practice that they say is illegal, according to a state law that was passed by the state Legislature last year and went into effect on July 1. According to the law, nurses can no longer be assigned mandatory overtime hours.
Nurses have also been relocated to unfamiliar departments, some of which they were not trained for, including the intensive and critical care units, union leaders said.
"It is also creating a situation where patient care could be at risk," Laricchiuta said. "Morale is low. Nurses aren't getting sufficient time between shifts."
DiMonda said that many of what she described as the best and most seasoned nurses are leaving the NUMC in search of more desirable working conditions elsewhere.
According to Shelley Lotenberg, a spokeswoman for Gianelli and the NHCC, the new nurses' schedules reduce inefficiencies created by the previous schedules and limit the need for overtime. The switch is expected to translate into millions of dollars in savings and to optimize the hospital's operations, she said.
As for the health and safety concerns raised by the union, hospital officials say they would address any potential issues. "We have not seen any reduction in quality of care issues, but will revisit the issue insofar as it relates to the intensive care units," Lotenberg said. "We are in the process of hiring additional nurses to fill as many vacancies as exist in nursing, and our organization is committed to quality improvement."
Though only a handful of hospital staffers demonstrated next to the rat earlier this week, union leaders said members were expected to show up in higher numbers on Friday.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
