Maxine Webb, a nurse at NYU Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, sometimes oversees eight or nine patients in the maternal/new child area. “If another nurse calls in sick, that number can go up to
10 or 11,” she said. 

That’s why Webb joined 900 other nurses across the state on May 10 in Albany for Nurses Lobby Day to urge state legislators to support a bill establishing safe staffing standards in hospitals and nursing homes. 

“The more nurses that turn up, the more important legislators consider the issue,” said Webb, who is a member of the Federation of Nurses/UFT. 

“It was a major day for us,” said Anne Goldman, the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT and the UFT vice president for non-DOE members. In addition to the staffing bill, nurses are seeking passage of a bill requiring a nurse in every school building and legislation that would eliminate mandatory overtime for home care nurses. 

“This overtime bill means a lot to me,” said Barbara Wisdom, a home care nurse with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and a member of the Federation of Nurses/ UFT. Mandatory overtime in a home care situation jeopardizes the safety of both nurse and patient, she said. The bill would restrict mandatory overtime except in emergencies; a 2008 law previously gave hospital nurses that protection. 

“We want to do what’s best for the patient and give good, efficient care,” said Wisdom. 

The Federation of Nurses/UFT has scored major legislative victories in Albany, notably helping to win the passage of a safe patient handling bill in 2014. Health care professionals suffer more musculoskeletal disorders than workers in any other occupation, according to Howard Sandau, the NYU Lutheran chapter leader and a UFT special representative. The new state law requires every hospital and nursing home to establish a safe patient handling committee — where half of the representatives are from the union — to evaluate the need and then obtain the proper equipment to safely move patients and provide staff training in how to use the devices.

Helen Gorry, a nurse at NYU Lutheran Medical Center, said she suffered a lowerback injury at the beginning of her career when she worked in a nursing home and had to physically lift patients. “The wear and tear on the body all adds up,” she said. 

When Gorry heard about the fight for the safe patient handling bill from her colleagues, she immediately got involved in the lobbying effort. “You want a safe environment for nurses and patients,” she said. 

Marci Resnicoff, another NYU Lutheran nurse, was also involved in that campaign.  “Using the right equipment may take longer but it means we have longer careers, and we can retire and still be active,” she said. 

Nurses Lobby Day each spring has become the place for nurses to raise their voices on these and other issues. “You feel the strength in all those nurses from all different organizations,” said Webb. “We have the same problems, and we want to accomplish the same goals.”