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MNA Statement on Gov. Dayton’s State of the State

15 Feb

Gov. Mark Dayton accepting an award from MNA President Linda Hamilton during the 2011 MNA Convention in St. Paul.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: John Nemo, 651-414-2863

ST. PAUL (February 15, 2012) – As Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton delivered his State of the State speech Wednesday, the leader of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) echoed her organization’s support for the Governor’s top priorities – jobs, education and reform.

“What our friends, neighbors and patients do need are good-paying jobs, access to affordable healthcare and great education for our children,” said MNA President Linda Hamilton, RN, BSN. “What they don’t need is a slew of divisive constitutional amendments that do nothing to address the core needs of Minnesotans across the state. We’re glad the Governor continues to focus on what the vast majority of everyday people in our state want and need.”

Hamilton said MNA nurses continue to advocate both at the bedside and in the legislature on issues that directly impact their patients and their profession – especially safe staffing levels.

“We realize the Twin Cities’ nurses strike during the summer of 2010 shone a white hot spotlight on the issue of unsafe staffing,” Hamilton said. “Our nurses see, hear and feel on a daily basis the negative impact unsafe staffing levels have on patients, families and caregivers. We’re going to continue to fight so that more hospital executives and administrators work with us to put patient safety ahead of corporate profits.”

Formed in 1905, the Minnesota Nurses Association represents more than 20,000 RNs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United (NNU), which has more than 175,000 members and is the largest RN union in the United States.

Please Support our Union brothers and sisters in St. Paul on Feb. 16th!

14 Feb

UNITE HERE Local 17 has been in contract negotiations with The Saint Paul Hotel since November 2011. The Hotel has hired a Union busting attorney, John Hauge, and is proposing to take away daily overtime, have workers contribute to their Health Insurance, and impose a 2 tiered wage system, reducing wages by as much as $5.00 per hour, undercutting ALL other Hotel contracts in the Twin Cities Area and lowering the standards of the Hospitality Industry. This is the same Hotel that once wanted to “pay the highest wages and attract the best workers”. The Saint Paul Hotel is a 4 Diamond property and was recently named as the best Hotel in Minnesota. We think they should be able to meet or exceed what all the other Employers agreed to.

Please call or email the management and tell them to “stop disrespecting the workers and hurting the community by turning living wage jobs into low wage jobs”.

David Miller@ 651-228-3801 dmiller@saintpaulhotel.com
Bill Morrissey @651-332-7665 bmorrissey@morrisseyhospitality.com

Event: PLEASE JOIN THE MEMBERS OF UNITE HERE LOCAL 17 IN FRONT OF THE SAINT PAUL HOTEL at NOON on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th.

Unsafe Staffing Story: I wouldn’t send my own family to the hospital I work at!

13 Feb

MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)

Today’s Story: I don’t feel patients are being safely monitored on this unit. With all the cardiac, respiratory, fall risk, and incontinence issues that the majority of  cardiacpatients have; it’s not safe for one nurse to adequately monitor 6 patients. I wouldn’t want my family or loved ones to be there, and I can’t recommend our unit to anyone that asks how the care is at [my hospital].

More information:

Unsafe Staffing Story: Too Many Babies, Not Enough Nurses

10 Feb

MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)

Today’s Story: Charge nurse had 3 moms and 2 babies; one requiring constant help with newborn cares and breastfeeding. One staff nurse had 5 moms and 5 babies, including a new Caesarean birth and a new vaginal delivery with significant postpartum hemorrhage. Another nurse had 5 moms and 5 babies-  2 mothers requiring constant help with breastfeeding and 2 babies requiring bottle feeding every 2-3 hours. One nurse had 4 moms and 4 babies including a new C-section birth with MRSA precautions and a non-English speaking new vaginal delivery. Nursery RN was a  casual staff member with 3 babies under her care most of the shift.

More information:

Must Read: A Dying Baby, Not Enough Nurses … Hospital Management’s Response? Order Pizza!

8 Feb

MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)

Today’s Story: The night shift was 7 nurses short so assignments were again increased. Requiring nurses to take additional patients to their already heavy loads was totally unsafe. A nurse on the unit with a dying baby was given another patient, severely limiting her ability to provide comfort to the family. I had a baby who would be finishing antibiotics, and then could go back to the newborn nursery, but I was unable to obtain any orders for transfer and required treatments during the shift, so the baby stayed in our unit under my care. (Later) I was notified that I would be getting a 35 week old admit and another patient who was on a ventilator and had a chest tube. This infant had (received) 1:1 care on the previous shift. I was unable to obtain any orders for the 35 week old infant for 1.5 hours because the providers (nurse practitioners) got called to two simultaneous deliveries of premature infants. Assignments were completely unacceptable. A patient who is dying should never be paired with another infant. I was unable to assist any of my co-workers and they were unable to assist me. Nurses did not get breaks, although (pizza) was ordered by management as a consolation. We want more nurses, not food! Our patients deserve quality care and they are not getting it!

More information:

Unsafe Staffing Story: Kids’ ICU Dangerously Thin on RN Staffing

1 Feb

MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)

Today’s Story: (From a hospital unit dealing exclusively with infants) - Working three nurses short in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is very unsafe. We have 17 vents [patients with ventilators, or machines that essentially breathe for patients and require continuous monitoring] and 21 acutely ill patients.

More information:

MNA RN Speaks Out on Community Health Issue

31 Jan

MTN/Channel 16 is broadcasting a 30 minute program of State Representative Frank Hornstein being interviewed by Lara Norkus-Crampton, RN regarding the capacity increase proposed for the Downtown Garbage Burner (the HERC) by Covanta and Hennepin County.

Don’t have cable?  Livestream @ http://www.livestream.com/mtnstudios16.

(There may be some initial commercial interruption so log in a few minutes before the start of the scheduled time.)

Representative Hornstein has been a staunch opponent to garbage incineration for many years and has played an important role in fighting this increase in the HERC burning capacity from 1000 tons per day to burning 1200 tons of mixed garbage per day.

Lara served on the Planning Commission when the permit for this increase was denied in 2009.  Covanta appealed this decision to the City Council but has not provided the data needed to challenge the decision of the Planning Commission.  This proposal is now being reviewed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to determine if a full Environmental Impact Study should be required.  The City Council has the final say in the Appeal.

Many Questions Remain Unanswered
Why are we burning recyclables?  Why are we burning garbage from outside of Minneapolis?  What is coming out of those stacks anyway?  Why have we been living with a garbage burner belching toxic emissions in the middle of Downtown Minneapolis for the past 25 years?  What is the effect on the public health of our citizens–especially our children?  Is there a better way to manage our solid waste?  These are some of the questions they try to answer.

Please pass on to anyone who might be interested in learning more about the environmental and public effects of the HERC Garbage Burner and why increasing the capacity is a very bad idea.

The next viewing dates are:

  • Thursday, February 02, 2012 @ 10:00 PM
  • Monday, February 06, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
  • Friday, February 17, 2012 @ 10:00

St. Paul Public School Teachers – Standing up for Students!

26 Jan

If you have kids in St. Paul’s Public Schools and/or just want to show solidarity with some great teachers, consider showing you support online or in person this Tuesday, Jan. 31st, during their info picket. Here are the details:

MNA President Linda Hamilton’s Response to Minnesota Adverse Events Report’s Release

26 Jan
MNA President Linda Hamilton

MNA President Linda Hamilton

Have you or a family member ever had the unfortunate experience of suffering from a pressure ulcer? In addition to being extremely unpleasant and painful, pressure ulcers can become so deep that they result in damage to your muscles, bones, tendons and joints.

And pressure ulcers – also commonly known as bedsores – are almost always preventable when proper staffing levels are adhered to.

Yet last week’s release of Minnesota’s Eighth Annual Adverse Events Report noted that incidents involving pressure ulcers spiked more than 19 percent statewide in 2011. What state hospital executives didn’t mention in spinning away that alarming statistic was that numerous national studies have shown a direct correlation between inadequate nurse staffing levels and an increase in conditions including pressure ulcers, pneumonia, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock/cardiac arrest, urinary tract infections and more.

The numbers don’t lie – safe staffing levels save lives and improve patient outcomes. While many will remember that the Twin Cities nurses’ strike during the summer of 2010 shined a white-hot spotlight on the issue, unsafe staffing has been a problem in Minnesota for decades.

As patients, you deserve better. You and your loved ones should never suffer without need from pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections or other conditions that can be prevented with adequate RN staffing levels.

Money is not the issue. Keep in mind that during the great recession of 2009, Twin Cities hospitals had their largest profit margins (6.5 percent) in a decade! It’s not that hospital executives can’t pay to adequately staff their hospitals. They just don’t want to.

My fellow nurses will continue to remain vocal about the needless suffering we in our patients see as a result. And data such as the recently released Adverse Events Report will continue to lend credibility and credence to our concerns.

Sincerely,

Linda Hamilton, RN
President, Minnesota Nurses Association

Unsafe Staffing Story: A “rushed and chaotic” feeling

22 Jan

MNA Nurses fill out hundreds of Concern For Safe Staffing forms online each month. The story below is just one example of how unsafe staffing conditions inside Minnesota hospitals continue to have negative – and sometimes even deadly – consequences for patients and nurses. (Note: Due to HIPAA privacy laws for patients and concerns for potential workplace retaliation by employers against RNs, we do not identify the specific nurse and/or patient(s) involved in each story in this space.)

Today’s Story: Extremely busy, high acuity with no available  resources, nurses came from other units to help as able, but were not able to perform tasks necessary such as del, OR, scrub. No breaks taken. I felt patients received basic care … once patient was safely delivered and deemed stable enough, I had to move on to more urgent patients needs and hope for the best. I made a point of visiting today the 3 patients I had who delivered for me yesterday to apologize for the rushed and chaotic feeling of the unit and lack of any TLC.

More information:

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