By:Nick Buglione
Campbell was just one of between 100 and 200 Nassau Health Care Corporation doctors, nurses and other employees who gathered through the day to protest the corporation's latest proposed round of layoffs to close its gaping financial deficit.
"When I pick up my check tomorrow, is it going to have a slip with it?" Campbell said amid the crowd of sign-wielding protesters who marched up and down Hempstead Turnpike and Carman Avenue, eliciting honks of encouragement from passing cars. "I can be sitting here talking to you today, and tomorrow I might not be here."
The Nassau Health Care Corporation, which runs the NUMC in East Meadow, the A. Holly Patterson nursing home in Uniondale and six community health clinics throughout the county, recently announced that it would be laying off about 300 employees. In the past two years, the corporation has laid off some 700 workers in an effort to break even.
The corporation has lost millions of dollars every year since its creation in 1999, and is projected to lose $15 million this year.
"This is one of many layoffs that have occurred, and we're now talking about 1,000 employees, which is better than a quarter of the employees that work in the hospital, nursing home and health care clinics," said Jane D'Amico, president of the Civil Service Employees Association Local 830. The CSEA, which organized the protest, represents nearly 3,600 health care corporation workers.
Under its 2005 budget, the corporation hopes to cut its deficit in half by losing only $6.5 million, which would be the lowest annual loss in its six-year history. That goal would largely be achieved through layoffs.
"In 2004, the Nassau Health Care Corporation is projected to lose $15 million," said President and CEO Daniel Kane, in a prepared statement. "While that amount represents a significant improvement over past years, the NHCC is budgeted to lose $6.5 million in 2005, and achieving that amount is based on the need to reduce the labor force."
Of the 300 employees that will be laid off, about 200 will come from NUMC and approximately 20 from A. Holly Patterson. All 81 staff members from the corporation's ward at the Nassau County jail would also be let go, and the county will likely seek an outside firm to provide inmates' health care in the future. Layoff notices will be sent out in January.
"While reductions in the labor force are difficult and painful, particularly for the individuals and families affected, our priorities must be preserving our mission and achieving fiscal stability, the key to the future success of the institution," Kane said.
Meanwhile, news of the layoffs put a damper on negotiations between Nassau Health Care Corporation and the union, D'Amico said. The employees have been without a contract for two years, though the parties were close to reaching an agreement, she said.
"We don't think this is right," D'Amico said. "One of the things we're trying to reach in the contract is a no-layoff clause so this place can get stabilized. If they don't stop laying off employees, [the corporation] will never recoup the reputation it needs to put patients here and be viable."
The union claims it has put forth an alternative to layoffs that could save the corporation $15 million by eliminating outside subcontracting, cutting administrative positions and modifying its billing and collection systems.
It also maintains that drastic staff cuts have taxed a number of departments and jeopardized patient care, forcing nurses, for example, to perform tasks once handled by orderlies. "It has a tremendous impact on the services that we give," said Doris Ruddock, an NUMC nurse. "If we lose 300 people, how on earth are we going to take care of the sick people that come in here on an hourly basis?"
A county-commissioned report released at the beginning of 2004, however, found that NUMC was actually overstaffed when compared with other local hospitals. The report, which the corporation has since adopted as a road map to its financial recovery, recommended more layoffs.
"Reductions will be carried out in a manner that avoids any impact on patient care," Kane said. "The Nassau Health Care Corporation remains committed to serving the needs of the residents of Nassau County, and particularly those who are economically disadvantaged."
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
