ReportWire

Tag: Nursing care

  • Another strike sends 31,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers to picket lines

    [ad_1]

    OAKLAND, Calif. — An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente health care workers launched an open-ended strike this week in California and Hawaii to demand better wages and staffing from the health care giant.

    The picketing that began Monday marked the second major walkout in recent months by employees represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. A five-day strike in October ended with negotiations resuming, but talks broke down in December.

    This week the union accused Kaiser of refusing to return to national bargaining discussions.

    “We will continue to push Kaiser to stop their egregious unfair labor practices against the frontline workers who deliver the best care for their patients and billions in profit to do the right thing, and come back to the table to bargain in good faith,” the union bargaining committee said in a statement.

    Kaiser said Sunday that the union had agreed to return to local bargaining, even as workers moved forward with the strike. The company said it paused national bargaining last month after what it described as a threatening incident involving a union official.

    “Illegal threats are a line that cannot be crossed,” Greg Holmes, Kaiser’s chief human resources officer, said in a statement. “This union official’s actions have compromised the national bargaining process and undermined both parties’ ability to continue good-faith bargaining.”

    Those on strike, including pharmacists, midwives and rehab therapists, say wages have not kept pace with inflation and there is not enough staffing to keep up with patient demand.

    They are asking for a 25% wage increase over four years to make up for wages they say are at least 7% behind their peers.

    Kaiser Permanente had countered with a 21.5% increase over four years. The company says that represented employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers, and it would have to charge customers more to meet strikers’ pay demand.

    Arezou Mansourian, a physician assistant on the bargaining team, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Kaiser has been unable to retain and recruit providers, which is impacting patient care. Medical staff have been leaving Kaiser for higher-paying jobs at other local hospitals, Mansourian said.

    She said the union’s fight for better working conditions will ultimately help patients as well.

    “We know it’s a pain right now, but it’s so that we can take care of you better in the future,” Mansourian told the Chronicle.

    The company said health clinics and hospitals will remain open during the strike, with some in-person appointments shifted to virtual appointments, and some elective surgeries and procedures being rescheduled.

    Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.6 million members at 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals in largely western U.S. states. It is based in Oakland, California.

    In New York City, about 15,000 nurses who walked off the job headed back to the bargaining table earlier this month. The New York State Nurses Association said contract negotiations resumed with officials at the three private hospital systems impacted by the strike: Montefiore, Mount Sinai and New York-Presbyterian.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 31K Kaiser Permanente nurses, other health care workers strike for better wages

    [ad_1]

    SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente health care workers went on strike Tuesday to demand better wages and staffing from the California-based health care giant.

    Organizers say the five-day strike across 500 medical centers and offices in California, Hawaii and Oregon is the largest in the 50-year history of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. The strike could grow to include 46,000 people.

    Those on strike, including pharmacists, midwives and rehab therapists, say wages have not kept pace with inflation and there is not enough staffing to keep up with patient demand.

    They are asking for a 25% wage increase over four years to make up for wages they say are at least 7% behind their peers.

    Kaiser Permanente has countered with a 21.5% increase over four years. The company says that represented employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers, and it would have to charge customers more to meet strikers’ pay demand.

    The company said health clinics and hospitals will remain open during the strike, with some in-person appointments shifted to virtual appointments, and some elective surgeries and procedures being rescheduled.

    Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.6 million members at 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals in largely western U.S. states. It is based in Oakland, California.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Nurses in Oregon take to the picket lines to demand better staffing, higher pay

    Nurses in Oregon take to the picket lines to demand better staffing, higher pay

    [ad_1]

    More than 3,000 nurses at six Oregon hospitals spent a second day on the picket lines Wednesday carrying signs that say, “Patients over profits” and “We’re out to ensure it’s safe in there,” as they continued to demand fair wages and better staffing levels.

    Nurses are striking at six Providence medical facilities across the state — from St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland in the north down to the Medford Medical Center in the south.

    Organizers say it’s the largest nurses strike in the state’s history, while Providence emphasized that no patient’s health is being put at risk, since it has hired contract workers to temporarily fill the void.

    Scott Palmer, chief of staff with the Oregon Nurses Association, said nurses have been in negotiations since December but they “have not been able to get Providence to come to a fair contract.”

    Palmer said the focus of negotiations is on “recruitment and retention issues,” including wages, benefits and sufficient staffing standards.

    Jennifer Gentry, chief nursing officer for Providence’s Central Division, said the organization contracted with a company to provide replacement workers to ensure patient care does not suffer. Gary Walker, a spokesperson for the company, said the strike has not affected their facilities. They treated about 800 people in their Emergency Departments on Tuesday and no elective surgeries have been postponed.

    Palmer said the striking nurses want people to get the care they need, but they want the caregivers to be supported.

    “It’s really important for people to know from the nurses and from the American Nurses Association that if you’re sick, don’t delay getting medical care,” Palmer told The Associated Press. “Patients should seek hospital care immediately if they need it. Obviously, our nurses would rather be the ones providing that care, but Providence forced our hands and instead we find ourselves out on the picket line advocating for those patients.”

    Staffing and competitive wages are the focus of their demands, Palmer said. When staffing levels are low, nurses can’t take lunch, there are delays in answering patient calls, and it’s even difficult to find time to go to the bathroom, he said.

    That constant stress is causing record levels of burnout among nurses, Palmer said.

    “We know that nurses are choosing to leave the profession in droves and there’s a moral injury that nurses experience from being unable to provide the quality care that patients deserve, because at least in Oregon, the primary reason for that is unsafe staffing levels,” he said.

    Providence nursing officer Gentry said Oregon has passed a “safe staffing” law and the company follows the law’s staffing mandates.

    Palmer said the nurses want Providence to put those staffing levels in the contracts, but Gentry said they offered to put in the contract that they’ll follow the law, instead of including specific numbers in case the law changes.

    The strike is scheduled to run through Thursday.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show Jennifer Gentry’s proper title. She is chief nursing officer for Providence’s Central Division.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Nurses in Oregon take to the picket lines to demand better staffing, higher pay

    Nurses in Oregon take to the picket lines to demand better staffing, higher pay

    [ad_1]

    More than 3,000 nurses at six Oregon hospitals spent a second day on the picket lines Wednesday carrying signs that say, “Patients over profits” and “We’re out to ensure it’s safe in there,” as they continued to demand fair wages and better staffing levels.

    Nurses are striking at six Providence medical facilities across the state — from St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland in the north down to the Medford Medical Center in the south.

    Organizers say it’s the largest nurses strike in the state’s history, while Providence emphasized that no patient’s health is being put at risk, since it has hired contract workers to temporarily fill the void.

    Scott Palmer, chief of staff with the Oregon Nurses Association, said nurses have been in negotiations since December but they “have not been able to get Providence to come to a fair contract.”

    Palmer said the focus of negotiations is on “recruitment and retention issues,” including wages, benefits and sufficient staffing standards.

    Jennifer Gentry, chief nursing officer for Providence’s Central Division, said the organization contracted with a company to provide replacement workers to ensure patient care does not suffer. Gary Walker, a spokesperson for the company, said the strike has not affected their facilities. They treated about 800 people in their Emergency Departments on Tuesday and no elective surgeries have been postponed.

    Palmer said the striking nurses want people to get the care they need, but they want the caregivers to be supported.

    “It’s really important for people to know from the nurses and from the American Nurses Association that if you’re sick, don’t delay getting medical care,” Palmer told The Associated Press. “Patients should seek hospital care immediately if they need it. Obviously, our nurses would rather be the ones providing that care, but Providence forced our hands and instead we find ourselves out on the picket line advocating for those patients.”

    Staffing and competitive wages are the focus of their demands, Palmer said. When staffing levels are low, nurses can’t take lunch, there are delays in answering patient calls, and it’s even difficult to find time to go to the bathroom, he said.

    That constant stress is causing record levels of burnout among nurses, Palmer said.

    “We know that nurses are choosing to leave the profession in droves and there’s a moral injury that nurses experience from being unable to provide the quality care that patients deserve, because at least in Oregon, the primary reason for that is unsafe staffing levels,” he said.

    Providence nursing officer Gentry said Oregon has passed a “safe staffing” law and the company follows the law’s staffing mandates.

    Palmer said the nurses want Providence to put those staffing levels in the contracts, but Gentry said they offered to put in the contract that they’ll follow the law, instead of including specific numbers in case the law changes.

    The strike is scheduled to run through Thursday.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show Jennifer Gentry’s proper title. She is chief nursing officer for Providence’s Central Division.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • A city famous for its beaches is helping residents age in place. What to know if you want to stay in your home

    A city famous for its beaches is helping residents age in place. What to know if you want to stay in your home

    [ad_1]

    Laguna Beach, California

    Luciano Lejtman | Moment | Getty Images

    When most people think of Laguna Beach, California, they think of its scenic coves and beaches.

    But the small coastal city — with a population of around 22,600 — is also pioneering a new model for elder care.

    About 77% of adults ages 50 and up hope to stay in their homes long term, according to AARP. In Laguna Beach, the rate is even higher, with about 90% of residents, according to Rickie Redman, director of the city’s aging-in-place services, dubbed Lifelong Laguna.

    The program, which provides services through a hometown nonprofit, was piloted in 2017. Lifelong Laguna is based on the Village movement, where aging in place is encouraged with community support.

    The Laguna Beach program aims to fulfill a specific need for a city where approximately 28% of residents are age 65 and over, while local assisted living and memory care services are scarce.

    More from Personal Finance:
    What happens to your Social Security benefits when you die
    This purchase may be a ‘grenade’ in your otherwise well-planned retirement
    Will there be a recession in 2024? Here’s what experts say

    Many of the older residents have lived in the city since they were in their 20s and 30s, and now find themselves in their 70s and 80s, according to Redman. Many of them trace back to the city’s artistic roots, she said.

    “They make this city unique,” Redman said. “They’re the placeholders for the Laguna that we now know.”

    Notably, there is no cost for the city’s older adults to participate in most of the services.

    The program, which currently has around 200 participants, relies on grants and local fundraising, according to Redman. Its services address a wide range of needs, including a home repair program the city operates in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, nutrition counseling and end-of-life planning.

    Other cities have also adopted community support models for residents who age in place through the Village movement. That includes tens of thousands of older adults in 26 states and Washington, D.C., according to Manuel Acevedo, founder and CEO of Helpful Village, which provides technology support to seniors and participating communities.

    Retirees confront high costs to stay at home

    The high costs of aging in place are one of the biggest obstacles that prevents older adults from fulfilling their desire to stay put, experts say.

    About 10,000 baby boomers are expected to turn age 65 every day until 2030. An estimated 70% of those individuals will need long-term care services at some point, according to Genworth Financial.

    In 2021, the highest year-over-year increase in cost was in home-care services, Genworth’s research found. The median annual cost for in-home care was $61,776 for a home health aide to provide hands-on personal care and $59,488 for homemaker services to help with household tasks.

    Those costs have been influenced by supply and demand, according to Genworth.

    As more people age and require care, the Covid pandemic led to an insufficient supply of professionals to meet care needs, as well as a high turnover rate.

    Preferences for aging in place are also showing up in the real estate market.

    Baby boomers currently represent the biggest portion of home buyers, according to Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors. More than half of boomers are saying that the property they are purchasing now is where they plan on living for the rest of their lives, a sentiment that has increased since the Covid pandemic.

    “There definitely is a mindset change, where people are saying, ‘I do want to stay put, I don’t necessarily want to move into a nursing home or into assisted care,’” Lautz said.

    ‘Forever grateful’ for community

    Sylvia Bradshaw, an 84-year-old Laguna Beach resident who moved to the city in 1983, describes it as “paradise.”

    She has lived there since that time, apart from a stint when she and her husband relocated to Ireland. Still, the couple held on to their home, the city’s third-oldest house, which was built in 1897.

    “My husband had ideas about selling our home,” Bradshaw said. “But I would never sell it, because I said ‘Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.’”

    Bradshaw’s husband was a teacher in the city’s high school and later became a lawyer. More recently, he had health struggles that made it difficult for the couple to keep up with yard work, Bradshaw said.

    As members of the Laguna aging-in-place community, they had access to help.

    Redman helped arrange for a team of workers to come to clean up the yard, which included removing 17 bags of scraps and trimming a roughly 30-year-old fig tree.

    “Now people can see that there’s a house there; they just couldn’t see it [before],” said Bradshaw, who said she is “forever grateful” for the gesture.

    The support of the community also was especially helpful in sorting through the hospice care issues prior to her husband’s recent death.

    “Anything that I’ve needed, I’ve gotten help,” Bradshaw said.

    That has included help sorting through insurance choices, legal advice, transportation assistance and classes and social events, said John Bradshaw, Sylvia’s son.

    Having the elder community support his parents is a “big comfort,” John said, particularly as he no longer lives in Laguna Beach.

    “It is just such a wonderful relief,” John said. “It’s like having a second family, this team of people really supporting my parents, and others like them, to be able to stay and enjoy this part of the country.”

    What to do if you want to age in place

    If you want to age in place, it helps to start planning early to make sure it’s feasible, said Carolyn McClanahan, a physician and certified financial planner who is the founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “We actually start bringing it up with clients in their 50s and 60s: Where do you want to live out the end of your life?” McClanahan said. “Of course, most people do say, ‘I want to live in my home.’”

    It’s important to be realistic about those plans.

    Ask yourself whether the decision to age in place is just “rationalized inertia,” or giving yourself an out when it comes to confronting other important aging decisions, said Tom West, senior partner at Signature Estate and Investment Advisors in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

    If you do decide staying in your home is the best option, be prepared to make changes to your home, he said. That may include wider doorways to accommodate wheelchairs or walkers, as well as grab bars to help prevent falls.

    Like the aging-in-place models established in Laguna Beach and elsewhere, it helps to have community support. McClanahan recommends developing strong relationships with your neighbors where you agree to look out for each other.

    It also helps to set certain boundaries for when staying at home no longer makes sense.

    For example, it may cost $240,000 a year to stay home if you need 24-hour care, McClanahan said.

    “Even if you’re super rich, a lot of families hate seeing that much money go out the window, when you would pay half the cost to actually go into a facility,” McClanahan said.

    Further, be sure to outline your wishes in all potential circumstances. While you may want your children to promise not to put you in a nursing home, it may come to a point where it is more cost effective and safer to go to a care unit, McClanahan said.  

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • UK government reaches a pay deal with senior doctors that could end disruptive strikes

    UK government reaches a pay deal with senior doctors that could end disruptive strikes

    [ad_1]

    LONDON — Britain’s government reached a deal with senior doctors in England that could potentially end a series of disruptive strikes, officials said Monday.

    The Department of Health and Social Care said it submitted a pay offer to doctors’ unions after weeks of talks, and union leaders agreed to put the proposal to their members for a vote.

    Health officials said the breakthrough was a huge relief, though results from the union votes won’t be known until January.

    The British Medical Association said the government’s offer meant senior doctors will start to receive extra income next year, on top of a 6% pay increase already awarded for 2023 to 2024. The doctors’ union said the government was investing 4.95% more in salaries for senior doctors, though the amount each doctor will get depends on their contracts.

    Thousands of senior physicians walked off the job for 48-hour periods earlier this year to demand better pay and working conditions from the government, causing major disruptions at hospitals across England.

    Those strikes came on top of similar industrial actions by junior doctors, nurses and other health workers who organized their own strikes to obtain pay raises amid the U.K.’s soaring inflation and cost-of-living crisis.

    Senior doctors said their pay has shrunk by a third in real terms over the past 14 years.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the new offer was a “fair deal” for senior doctors and will be good news for patients.

    This year’s strike actions have put further pressure on Britain’s under-funded and under-staffed National Health Service, leading to the postponement of more than 1 million hospital appointments. The disruption also cost the NHS some 1.4 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) in lost income and staff coverage, according to health executives.

    Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said the progress in pay negotiations was welcome news, especially because demand for hospital care always surges in winter.

    “This agreement is a critical first step, and we now need all parties to continue to work together to find a solution to remaining pay disputes as soon as possible,” she said.

    Government officials earlier reached pay deals with nurses and other health workers, but they are still negotiating with doctors in the early stages of their careers over pay.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Volunteer medical students are trying to fill the health care gap for migrants in Chicago

    Volunteer medical students are trying to fill the health care gap for migrants in Chicago

    [ad_1]

    CHICAGO — Using sidewalks as exam rooms and heavy red duffle bags as medical supply closets, volunteer medics spend their Saturdays caring for the growing number of migrants arriving in Chicago without a place to live.

    Mostly students in training, they go to police stations where migrants are first housed, prescribing antibiotics, distributing prenatal vitamins and assessing for serious health issues. These student doctors, nurses and physician assistants are the front line of health care for asylum-seekers in the nation’s third-largest city, filling a gap in Chicago’s haphazard response.

    “My team is a team that shouldn’t have to exist, but it does out of necessity,” said Sara Izquierdo, a University of Illinois Chicago medical student who helped found the group. “Because if we’re not doing this, I’m not sure anyone will.”

    More than 19,600 migrants have come to Chicago over the last year since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses to so-called sanctuary cities. The migrants wait at police stations and airports, sometimes for months, until there’s space at a longer-term shelter, like park district buildings.

    Once in shelter, they can access a county clinic exclusively for migrants. But the currently 3,300 people in limbo at police stations and airports must rely on a mishmash of volunteers and social service groups that provide food, clothes and medicine.

    Izquierdo noted the medical care gap months ago, consulted experienced doctors and designed a street-medicine model tailored to migrants’ medical needs. Her group makes weekly visits to police stations, operating on a shoestring budget of $30,000, mostly used for medication.

    On a recent Saturday, she was among dozens of medics at a South Side station where migrants sleep in the lobby, on sidewalks and an outdoor basketball court. Officers didn’t allow the volunteers in the station so when one patient requested privacy, their doctor used his car.

    Abrahan Balizario saw a doctor for the first time in five months.

    The 28-year-old had a headache, toothache and chest pain. He recently arrived from Peru, where he worked as a driver and at a laundromat but couldn’t survive. He wasn’t used to the brisk Chicago weather and believed sleeping outdoors exacerbated his symptoms.

    “It is very cold,” he said. “We’re almost freezing.”

    The volunteers booked him a dental appointment and gave him a bus pass.

    Many migrants who land in Chicago and other U.S. cities come from Venezuela where a social, political and economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty. More than 7 million have left, often risking a dangerous route by foot to the U.S. border.

    The migrants’ health problems tend to be related to their journey or living in crowded conditions. Back and leg injuries from walking are common. Infections spread easily. Hygiene is an issue. There are few indoor bathrooms and outdoor portable toilets lack handwashing stations. Not many people carry their medical records.

    Most also have trauma, either from their homeland or from the journey itself.

    “You can understand the language, but it doesn’t mean you understand the situation,” said Miriam Guzman, one of organizers and a fourth-year medical student at UIC.

    The doctors refer patients to organizations that help with mental health but there are limitations. The fluid nature of the shelter system makes it difficult to follow-up; people are often moved without warning.

    Chicago’s goal is to provide permanent homes, which could help alleviate health issues. But the city has struggled to manage the growing population as buses and planes arrive daily at all hours. Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in May, calls it an inherited issue and proposed winterized tents.

    His administration has acknowledged the heavy reliance on volunteers.

    “We weren’t ready for this,” said Rey Wences Najera, first deputy of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights. “We are building this plane as we are flying it and the plane is on fire.”

    The volunteer doctors also are limited in what they can do: Their duffle bags have medications for children, bandages and even ear plugs after some migrants wanted to block out sirens. But they cannot offer X-rays or address chronic issues.

    “You’re not going to tell a person who has gone through this journey to stop smoking,” said Ruben Santos, a Rush University medical student. “You change your way of trying to connect to that person to make sure that you can help them with their most pressing needs while not doing some of the traditional things that you would do in the office or a big academic hospital.”

    The volunteers explain to each patient that the service is free but that they’re students. Experienced doctors, who are part of the effort, approve treatment plans and prescribe medications.

    Getting people those medications is another challenge. One station visit prompted 15 prescriptions. Working from laptops on the floor — near dozens of sleeping families — the doctors mapped out which medics would pick up medications the following day and how they’d find the recipients.

    Sometimes the volunteers must call for emergency help.

    Thirty-year-old Moises Hidalgo said he had trouble breathing. Doctors heard a concerning “crackling” sound, suspected pneumonia and called an ambulance.

    Hidalgo, who came from Peru after having left his native Venezuela more than a decade ago, once worked as a chef. He’s been walking around Chicago looking for jobs, but has been turned away without a work permit.

    “I’ve been trying to find work, at least so that I can pay to sleep somewhere, because if this isn’t solved, I can’t keep waiting,” he said.

    To stay warm while sleeping outside, he wore four layers of clothing; his loose pants cinched with a shoelace.

    The medics hope Chicago can formalize their approach. And they say they’ll continue to keep at it — for some, it’s personal.

    Dr. Muftawu-Deen Iddrisu, who works Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, said he wanted to give back. Originally from Ghana, he attended medical school in Cuba.

    “I come from a very humble background,” he said. “I know how it feels. I know once sometime back someone did the same for me.”

    ___

    Associated Press video journalist Melissa Perez Winder contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Dozens saved by Italy from migrant shipwrecks; some, clinging to rocks, plucked to safety by copters

    Dozens saved by Italy from migrant shipwrecks; some, clinging to rocks, plucked to safety by copters

    [ad_1]

    ROME — Dozens of migrants were dramatically rescued by Italy as they foundered in the sea or clung to a rocky reef Sunday after three boats launched by smugglers from northern Africa shipwrecked in rough waters in separate incidents over the weekend. Survivors said some 30 fellow migrants were missing from capsized vessels.

    In a particularly risky operation, two helicopters battled strong winds to pluck to safety, one by one, the migrants, including a child and two pregnant women, who had been stranded for nearly two days on a steep, rocky reef of tiny Lampedusa island. The migrants had been clinging to the jagged rocks after their boat smashed into the reef late Friday.

    For years, migrants have taken to smugglers’ unseaworthy vessels to make the risky crossing of the Mediterranean to try to reach southern European shores in hopes of being granted asylum or finding family or jobs, especially in northern European countries.

    All 34 migrants who endured two nights on the reef were rescued, said Federico Catania, a spokesperson for the Alpine assistance group whose experts were lowered from a hovering Italian air force helicopter. Migrants, some wearing shorts and flip-flops, clung to their rescuers as they were pulled up into the copter. A firefighters’ helicopter also carried out some of the rescues.

    The two women, including one in an advanced stage of pregnancy, were examined by medical personnel, said Maria Ylenia Di Paola, a nurse on Lampedusa. She told Italian state TV that the women were dehydrated and cold, “but above all they were psychologically tried.”

    The helicopter operation was launched after the coast guard determined the rough sea would make it impossible for rescue boats to approach the jagged rocks safely. A day earlier, Italian helicopters dropped food, water and thermal blankets down to the migrants on the reef.

    Meanwhile, survivors of two boats that capsized on Saturday some 23 nautical miles (42.5 kilometers) southwest of Lampedusa told rescuers that about 30 fellow migrants were missing. The Coast Guard said that in two operations it saved 57 migrants and recovered the bodies of a child and of a woman.

    Coast Guard members lowered a wide rope ladder and helped pull up migrants into their rescue vessel, rocked by wind-whipped waves. At least one coast guard diver jumped into the sea to help guide a raft, tossed into the Mediterranean by the rescuers, so the survivors could cling to it while it was pulled toward the vessel, according to details gleaned from a coast guard video of the rescue.

    Before the two bodies were recovered on Saturday, a total of 1,814 migrants were known to have perished in 2023 while attempting the Mediterranean crossing to Italy in boats launched from Tunisia or Libya, said Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the U.N. migration agency IOM.

    So many had made the crossing in recent days that 2,450 migrants were currently housed at Lampedusa’s temporary residence, which has a capacity of about 400, said Ignazio Schintu, an official of the Italian Red Cross which runs the center. Once the winds slacken and the seas turn calm, Italy will resume ferrying hundreds of them to Sicily to ease the overcrowding, he told state TV.

    Among the homelands of some of the rescued migrants are Senegal, Gambia, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, Schintu said.

    The two boats that capsized in open seas were believed to have set out from Sfax — a Tunisian port — on Thursday, when sea conditions were good, the Italian coast guard said.

    But since sea conditions were forecast to turn bad on Saturday, “it’s even more criminal for smugglers to let them leave,” said Di Giacomo of the IOM.

    Voyages from Libya’s shores used to be riskier, he said, but because lately Tunisia-based smugglers have been using particularly flimsy vessels, that route across the central Mediterranean is becoming increasingly deadly.

    Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are setting out from Tunisia in “fragile iron vessels that after 24 hours often break in two, and the migrants fall into the sea,” Di Giacomo said, in an audio message from Sicily.

    Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose right-wing government includes the anti-migrant League party, has galvanized the European Union to join it in efforts to coax Tunisia’s leader, with promises of aid, to crack down on migrant smuggling. But despite a spate of visits by European leaders to Tunisia lately, the boats keep being launched nearly daily from Tunisian ports.

    ____

    This version corrects first name of nurse to Maria.

    Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Hospitalized Pope Francis walks a bit, follows Mass on TV, lunches with medical personnel and aides

    Hospitalized Pope Francis walks a bit, follows Mass on TV, lunches with medical personnel and aides

    [ad_1]

    ROME — Sticking to doctors’ advice, Pope Francis on Sunday skipped his customary weekly public blessing as he convalesces from abdominal surgery in a Rome hospital, but walked a few steps, followed Mass on TV and did some work, the Vatican said.

    Francis also ate lunch in his 10th-floor hospital apartment with doctors, nurses, other medical staff and members of his security detail, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a written statement.

    The surgeon who performed the three-hour surgery Wednesday to repair an abdominal hernia and to remove painful internal scarring that had resulted from previous operations said the 86-year-old pontiff had begun a semi-liquid diet.

    Dr. Sergio Alfieri also told reporters that medical staff had made clear to Francis their concerns that if the pontiff delivered the noon public blessing and greeting from a balcony down the corridor from his hospital room, he might over-exert himself and tear a prosthetic mesh that was inserted as part of the hernia repair.

    If that happened, it would require another operation. The public blessing usually takes about 15 minutes.

    Citing the assessment of medical personnel, Bruni said Sunday the pontiff’s recovery was proceeding normally. “He did respiratory physiotherapy and continued to be mobile,” Bruni said.

    As a young man, Francis had part of a lung removed due to infection, so his pulmonary function is keenly watched. In March, the pontiff spent a few days in the same hospital for intravenous antibiotic treatment of bronchitis that had caused him to run a fever.

    On Sunday morning, the pope “followed Holy Mass live on television and received the Eucharist,” Bruni said. Francis then recited the traditional noon prayer known as the Angelus in a small chapel area of the papal apartment that Gemelli keeps ready for whenever pontiffs might need hospitalization.

    On Sunday evening, the Vatican gave a brief update on the pope’s progress, saying he passed the afternoon well. “Pope Francis was able to take a few steps. He dedicated himself for a few hours to work, alternating that with rest and prayer,” the Holy See’s press office said.

    Even before surgery, walking has been challenging for Francis, due to a chronic knee problem. Depending on distance, he either uses a wheelchair or a cane to get around.

    No date has been announced for Francis’ return to the Vatican. But Alfieri on Saturday revealed that medical staff were encouraging him to spend all of this week at the hospital so he would be in better shape to manage his heavy work load once he went home.

    Two years ago, when Francis had surgery to remove a section of his colon that had narrowed, the pontiff, flanked by a few hospitalized children, delivered a Sunday blessing from a 10th-floor hospital balcony, seven days after that procedure. He was discharged 10 days after the operation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Utah man sues Alaska troopers, says his job offer was yanked after revealing HIV status

    Utah man sues Alaska troopers, says his job offer was yanked after revealing HIV status

    [ad_1]

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Salt Lake City man who says his job offer to become an Alaska State Trooper was rescinded after he disclosed he was HIV positive filed a lawsuit in state court Thursday to get his position on the statewide police force and to prevent others from suffering similar alleged discrimination.

    The lawsuit was filed electronically by Anchorage civil rights attorney Caitlin Shortell on behalf of a man only identified as John Doe, whose HIV is undetectable and untransmissible.

    “There are no reservations about his ability to do the duties of the job, and he is completely fit,” Shortell said, adding he can work without accommodations.

    Doe “seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the Alaska State Troopers’ rescission of a job offer based on his being a person who lives with HIV, in light of medical advancements that render HIV status irrelevant to a person’s ability to meet the criteria for entry and service at Alaska State Troopers in any capacity,” the lawsuit states.

    It alleges violations of civil rights laws, the state and U.S. constitutions and the Alaska Human Rights Act. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which, as of Thursday morning, had not yet appeared online.

    Named as defendants are James Cockrell, the head of the troopers; the state of Alaska; the troopers, and Beacon Occupational Health and Safety, the troopers’ outside vendor.

    The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the troopers, had not been served with the lawsuit as of Thursday, spokesman Austin McDaniel said in an email to The Associated Press.

    However, he said the department stands by the decisions that were made in this case and “reject the notion that this individual was discriminated against.”

    McDaniel said that because of the threat of litigation and privacy laws, they cannot go into specifics regarding this case.

    “The public places immense trust in their law enforcement officers, and we review a large amount of information, including an individual’s criminal history, work history, psychological fitness, physical fitness, medical fitness, and truthfulness, as we select men and women to become Alaska State Troopers to ensure that they can maintain the public’s trust,” McDaniel said.

    Aris Brimanis, the operations manager for Beacon in Anchorage, said the company did not have immediate comment.

    According to the lawsuit, Doe wanted to be a law enforcement officer since his childhood, where he volunteered at the California Highway Patrol Academy and was an explorer with the local sheriff’s office during high school. He was working as a flight attendant when he applied to be a trooper in April 2020.

    Six months later, he received a conditional offer of employment, the lawsuit said, detailing how he completed the required written exam, two physical ability tests, passed a background test and an oral board interview.

    Doe also passed the written psychological test and interview, and then had to take a polygraph and medical exam as part of the conditions for employment, according to the lawsuit.

    At the medical exam, Doe disclosed his disability status as a person living with HIV, the lawsuit said. He also provided to Beacon’s nurse practitioner recent lab results and a note from his doctor saying he was able to perform all functions of a trooper without reasonable accommodation. However, the nurse practitioner noted on paperwork that Doe may require an accommodation.

    The lawsuit said the practitioner initially wrote “no” to a question if she had any reservations about the candidate’s ability to perform the duties of the job, but then crossed that out and wrote “error,” noting the guidelines for a law enforcement officer. Doe argues the guidelines were out-of-date and didn’t reflect advances in medicine for those with HIV.

    The next day, during a polygraph test, he was asked if he took medication, the lawsuit said. He said yes, but noted he felt this was a prohibited medical inquiry and he had provided medical information to the nurse.

    He told the examiner he wasn’t comfortable disclosing his medical condition when asked what the medication was for. Doe then disclosed his HIV status to the examiner when told the interview process could be stopped if he refused, according to the court documents.

    That polygraph was deemed inconclusive. He took another the following day, which he passed with no questions about his medical condition, the lawsuit said.

    Doe said troopers later rescinded his conditional job offer, telling him there were better qualified applicants even though he already had received the conditional offer and, of the initial 245 applicants, Doe said he was one of the 10 finalists.

    Doe said he was told other applicants had prior military experience and others had already been living in Alaska. Neither is a condition for employment, according to the lawsuit. Half of the 10 finalists offered jobs didn’t live in Alaska, the lawsuit said.

    The lawsuit argues these reasons “were nothing more than a false pretext for unconstitutional discrimination based on Doe’s HIV status.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Transgender adults in Florida `blindsided’ that new law also limits their access to health care

    Transgender adults in Florida `blindsided’ that new law also limits their access to health care

    [ad_1]

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Debate surrounding Florida’s new restrictions on gender-affirming care focused largely on transgender children. But a new law that Republican presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last month also made it difficult – even impossible – for many transgender adults to get treatment.

    Eli and Lucas, trans men who are a couple, followed the discussions in the Legislature, where Democrats warned that trans children would be more prone to suicide under a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and Republicans responded with misplaced tales of mutilated kids. Eli said he and his partner felt “blindsided” when they discovered the bill contained language that would also disrupt their lives.

    “There was no communication. … Nobody was really talking about it in our circles,” said Eli, 29.

    Like many transgender adults in Florida, he and Lucas are now facing tough choices, including whether to uproot their lives so that they can continue to access gender-confirming care. Clinics are also trying to figure out how to operate under regulations that have made Florida a test case for restrictions on adults.

    Lucas, 26, lost his access to treatment when the Orlando clinic that prescribed him hormone replacement therapy stopped providing gender-affirming care altogether. The couple also worries about staying in a state that this year enacted several other bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

    “My entire life is here. All my friends, my family. I just got a promotion at my job, which I’m probably not to be able to keep,” Lucas, who works in a financial aid office at a college, said. “I’m losing everything except Eli and my pets moving out of here. So this was not a decision that I took lightly at all.”

    The Associated Press is not using Eli’s and Lucas’ last names because they fear reprisal. While their friends and families know they are trans, most people who meet them do not.

    The new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors also mandates that adult patients seeking trans health care sign an informed consent form. It also requires a physician to oversee any health care related to transitioning, and for people to see that doctor in person. Those rules have proven particularly onerous because many people received care from nurse practitioners and used telehealth. The law also made it a crime to violate the new requirements.

    Another new law that allows doctors and pharmacists to refuse to treat transgender people further limits their options.

    “For trans adults, it’s devastating,” said Kate Steinle, chief clinical officer at FOLX Health, which provides gender-affirming care to trans adults through telemedicine. Her company decided to open in-person clinics and hire more physicians licensed in Florida in order to continue to provide care to patients who have already enrolled, even though that represents a major change to the company’s business model.

    Eli has been seeing a physician for years and therefore still has access to care. But SPEKTRUM Health Inc., the Orlando clinic that prescribed Lucas hormone replacement therapy, has stopped providing gender-affirming care.

    “There are a lot of people looking for care that we’re no longer legally able to provide,” said Lana Dunn, SPEKTRUM Health’s chief operating officer.

    Florida has the second-largest population of transgender adults in the U.S., at an estimated 94,900 people, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. It used state-level, population-based surveys to determine its estimates. Not all transgender people seek medical interventions.

    At least 19 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. But restrictions on adults haven’t been part of the conversation in most places. Missouri’s attorney general tried to impose a rule in that state, but it was pulled back.

    Florida is “the proving ground of what they can get away with,” Dunn said.

    Her organization treats about 4,000 people — most in Florida and some out-of-state telehealth patients, she said. While SPEKTRUM has bolstered its mental health services since the law passed, it and other organizations heavily rely on nurse practitioners to provide care.

    Dunn estimates that 80% of trans adults in the state were getting their health care from a nurse practitioner and now have lost access.

    “Right now what we’re seeing in the community is just chaos,” Dunn said.

    The law also contains language that she said could scare off doctors who would be otherwise willing to treat trans patients, such as a 20-year statute of limitations to sue over care they provide.

    As a trans woman herself, Dunn is grappling with losing her own access to hormones while trying to provide support to terrified patients. That’s taken “a significant emotional toll,” she said.

    “Not only am I faced with this lack of care for myself but a lot of people within the community are also facing the same thing, and they’re reaching out to me for guidance,” Dunn said. “So I’m doing my best to help guide people and console them, but nobody’s really reaching out to me saying, ’How are you doing? Are you OK?’”

    Lucas, who transitioned eight years ago when he was 18, anticipates running out of hormone treatments in June. In the best case scenario he can foresee now, he will be able to get a new prescription in August. He fears he might start to get his period again.

    “It’s just going to be extremely difficult mentally to have your body changing in a way that doesn’t align with your brain,” Lucas said.

    Eli and Lucas have switched to a month-to-month lease and tentatively plan to relocate to Minnesota in November. They said they would leave sooner if they can afford it and started an online fundraiser to help. Moving with their dog and two cats increases the expense and difficulty of finding a new place.

    “I just never thought it could happen this way, this fast and to us,” Eli said.

    ___

    Beaty reported from New York City and Schoenbaum reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Despite flags, Border Patrol staff didn’t review fragile 8-year-old girl’s file before she died

    Despite flags, Border Patrol staff didn’t review fragile 8-year-old girl’s file before she died

    [ad_1]

    HARLINGEN, Texas — Border Patrol medical staff declined to review the file of an 8-year-old girl with a chronic heart condition and rare blood disorder before she appeared to have a seizure and died on her ninth day in custody, an internal investigation found.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said the child’s parents shared the medical history with authorities on May 10, a day after the family was taken into custody.

    But a nurse practitioner declined to review documents about the girl the day she died, CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility said in its initial statement Thursday on the May 17 death. The nurse practitioner reported denying three or four requests from the girl’s mother for an ambulance.

    Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, whose parents are Honduran, was born in Panama with congenital heart disease. She received surgery three years ago that her mother, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks, characterized as successful during a May 19 interview with The Associated Press.

    A day before she died, Anadith showed a fever of 104.9 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius), the CBP report said.

    A surveillance video system at the Harlingen, Texas, station was out of service since April 13, a violation of federal law that prevented evidence collection, according to the Office of Professional Responsibility, akin to a police department’s office of internal affairs. The system was flagged for repair but wasn’t fixed until May 23, six days after the girl died.

    Still, the report relied on interviews with Border Patrol agents and contracted medical personnel to raise a host of new and troubling questions about what went wrong during the girl’s nine days in custody, which far exceeded the agency’s own limit of 72 hours.

    Investigators gave no explanation for decisions that medical staff made and appeared to be at a loss for words.

    “Despite the girl’s condition, her mother’s concerns, and the series of treatments required to manage her condition, contracted medical personnel did not transfer her to a hospital for higher-level care,” the Office of Professional Responsibility said.

    Troy Miller, CBP’s acting commissioner, said the initial investigation “provides important new information on this tragic death” and he reaffirmed recent measures including a review of all “medically fragile” cases in custody to ensure they are out of custody as soon as possible. Average time in custody has dropped by more than half for families in two weeks, he said.

    “(This death) was a deeply upsetting and unacceptable tragedy. We can — and we will — do better to ensure this never happens again,” Miller said.

    Anadith entered Brownsville, Texas, with her parents and two older siblings May 9 when daily illegal crossings topped 10,000 as migrants rushed to beat the end of pandemic-related restrictions on seeking asylum.

    She was diagnosed with the flu May 14 at a temporary holding facility in Donna, Texas, and was moved with her family to Harlingen. Staff had about nine encounters with Anadith and her mother over the next four days at the Harlingen station until her death over concerns including high fever, flu symptoms, nausea and breathing difficulties. She was given medications, a cold pack and a cold shower, according to the Office of Professional Responsibility.

    A court-appointed monitor expressed concern in January about chronic conditions of medically fragile children not getting through to Border Patrol staff.

    Dr. Paul H. Wise, a Stanford University pediatrics professor who was in South Texas last week to look into the circumstances around what he said was a “preventable” death, said there should be little hesitation about sending ill children to the hospital, especially those with chronic conditions.

    Anadith’s mother told the AP that she informed staff of her child’s conditions, which included sickle-cell anemia, and repeatedly asked for medical assistance and an ambulance to take her daughter to a hospital but the request were denied until her child fell unconscious.

    Karla Marisol Vargas, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project who is representing the family, said Border Patrol agents rejected her pleas for medicine until the day she died.

    “They refused to review documents showing the illnesses that her daughter had,” Vargas said.

    The family is living with relatives in New York City while funeral arrangements are made.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this story.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Death toll in Beijing hospital fire rises to 29

    Death toll in Beijing hospital fire rises to 29

    [ad_1]

    Authorities in Beijing say the death toll in a fire that broke out Tuesday afternoon in a hospital has risen to 29, with 26 of them patients

    BEIJING — Authorities in Beijing say the death toll in fire that broke out Tuesday afternoon in a hospital has risen to 29, including 26 patients. Others who died were a nurse, a medical assistant and a family member, said Li Zongrong, deputy head of the Fengtai district.

    The fire at the private Changfeng Hospital forced dozens of people to evacuate and prompted some of those trapped to escape from windows using bedsheets tied together. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Even as New York nurses return to work, more strikes could follow

    Even as New York nurses return to work, more strikes could follow

    [ad_1]

    Even as 7,000 nurses return to work at two of New York’s busiest hospitals after a three-day strike, colleagues around the country say it’s just a matter of time before frontline workers at other hospitals begin walking the picket line.

    Problems are mounting at hospitals across the nation as they try to deal with widespread staffing shortages, overworked nurses beaten down by the pandemic and a busted pipeline of new nurses.

    That’s led to nurses juggling dangerously high caseloads, said Michelle Collins, dean at the college of nursing and health at Loyola University New Orleans.

    “There’s no place that’s immune from what’s happening with the nursing shortage,” Collins said. “It’s everywhere.”

    Union leaders say the tentative contract agreement ending the strike by nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, each privately owned, nonprofit hospitals that hold over 1,000 beds in New York City, will relieve chronic short staffing and boost pay by 19% over three years.

    The walkout, which ended Thursday, was just the latest dispute between nurses and their employers.

    Last year, six unions representing a total of 32,000 nurses launched strikes outside of hospital systems around the country, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Those strikes represented about a quarter of all the major strikes in the U.S. last year, an increase from the year before.

    Describing hospital environments where nurses are unable to take breaks because they are assigned too many patients — some of whom are pleading for care from frontline workers — the president of the American Nurses Association, Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, said some nurses may think their only option is to strike.

    “Nurses don’t feel like their voices have been heard with this exact topic,” she told The Associated Press Wednesday. “Nurses are now feeling like they need to strike. That could continue.”

    In California, nurse unions at two hospitals are likely to strike this year when their contract expires, said former nurse Peter Sidhu, who now works for the state union. Sidhu, who fields objections from nurses across the state who say their caseloads are unsafe, has received 7,000 such complaints in Los Angeles County hospitals since December. He said objections have at least doubled since before the pandemic began.

    “What I’ve seen is that in areas where we’ve traditionally had good staffing, even they are getting bombarded with patients and a lack of resources,” Sidhu said.

    Nurse shortages were plaguing some hospitals years before Covid-19 hit, and signs of a crisis loomed, with a large swath of the workforce nearing retirement age.

    A policy brief from the Department of Health and Human Services last year found that over half of nurses were over the age of 50, a much higher percentage compared with the overall U.S. labor workforce, where only a quarter of people are 55 or older.

    Aspiring nurses are lining up to replace those retirees but even that silver lining has hit a snag, with widespread faculty shortages at nursing colleges. In 2021, nearly 92,000 qualified nursing school applicants were denied entry into a program, largely because of a shortage of educators, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

    The American Nurses Association asked Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to declare the nursing shortage a national crisis in late 2021.

    “Nurses have remained steadfast on the front lines since the beginning of the pandemic, while overcoming challenges, risks to their personal health and safety such as limited personal protective equipment and the physical, emotional and mental health burden of the Covid-19 virus,” the association’s president at the time wrote in a letter to the secretary.

    Becerra hasn’t declared a crisis but has met with association and other health care leaders to discuss the shortage.

    “This has been an ongoing issue for a while,” Mensik Kennedy said Wednesday. “We really need to work collaboratively with Congress and our health care system to address these issues. Nurses can’t solve these issues by ourselves.”

    The federal agency has pumped more money into its National Health Service Corps program, which covers student tuition for health workers who serve in high-need communities. Since 2019, the program has nearly doubled the number of nurses and nurse faculty it sponsors.

    The number of nurses working in the profession is starting to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, said Dave Auerbach, the director of research at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

    But hospitals, especially, are still struggling to lure those nurses back to working in their wards, he noted.

    “That sounds like more of an issue of the attractiveness of the working conditions of the jobs,” Auerbach said. “Some of it is outside of the control of the hospitals in those jobs.”

    Sidhu left his job as an ICU nurse last year when a third Covid surge struck, after being among the first to volunteer for the Covid unit when the pandemic hit.

    He’s noticed a cultural shift in the profession. Fewer nurses want to work 12-hour shifts, multiple days a week. Many are taking jobs at clinics, where weekend or overnight shifts aren’t required. Others have moved to jobs in telehealth, working from the comfort of their home.

    Some are simply burnt out from working in a hospital.

    “Prior to the pandemic, I knew every once and a while, I’m going to have a bad night,” Sidhu said. “Now, every time you walk into the facility, you’re not just worried about what patients you’re going to have — now you have four (patients) and you know you’re not going to have resources.”

    Still, strong interest in the profession led Loyola University New Orleans to start an accelerated program this year aimed at second-career students who already have a bachelor’s degree.

    April Hamilton, a 55-year-old food writer, cooking teacher and mother from Baton Rouge, La., will walk into her first class when that new nursing program starts Tuesday.

    She’s read the headlines about staffing shortages and stressful working conditions in hospitals. She’s also seen the tough work nurses do firsthand: four years ago, she was in the hospital around-the-clock when her daughter spent 40 days in the intensive care unit, recovering from a fall that resulted in an amputated hand and 20 surgeries.

    “Witnessing my daughter’s miracle fuels me,” Hamilton said. “I’m ready. I want to be part of the solution.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • New York City nurses return to work after deal ends strike

    New York City nurses return to work after deal ends strike

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Two New York City hospitals have reached a tentative contract agreement with thousands of striking nurses that ends this week’s walkout that disrupted patient care, officials announced Thursday.

    The nurses, represented by the New York State Nurses Association, walked out early Monday after negotiations with management ran aground at Mount Sinai Hospital, in Manhattan, and Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx. Each has over 1,000 beds and 3,500 or more union nurses.

    Nurses began returning to work at both hospitals Thursday morning, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul greeting returning nurses at Mount Sinai just before dawn.

    Hochul, a Democrat, said that with the new three-year contract, “they’ll receive a well-deserved 19% pay increase here. Also better benefits, higher wages for those with higher education, and again, a working environment that allows them to focus on patient care.”

    The union has stressed staffing levels as a key concern, saying that nurses who labored through the grueling peak of the coronavirus pandemic are stretched far too thin because too many jobs are open. Nurses say they have had to work overtime, handle twice as many patients as they should, and skip meals and even bathroom breaks.

    The agreements with both hospitals include concrete, enforceable staffing ratios, the union said. The agreement with Montefiore also included what the union described as community health improvements and nurse-student partnerships to recruit local nurses from the Bronx.

    “Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai where nurses went on strike for patient care,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement. “Today, we can return to work with our heads held high, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”

    The privately owned, nonprofit hospitals say they have been grappling with a widespread nursing shortage that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

    “Our bargaining team has been working around the clock with NYSNA’s leadership to come to an agreement,” Montefiore said in a statement. “From the outset, we came to the table committed to bargaining in good faith and addressing the issues that were priorities for our nursing staff.”

    The hospital said it focused on ensuring the nurses had “the best possible working environment, with significant wage and benefit enhancements” through the deal with the union.

    “We know this strike impacted everyone — not just our nurses — and we were committed to coming to a resolution as soon as possible to minimize disruption to patient care,” the hospital said.

    Mount Sinai said in a statement it was pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and that the strike was over.

    “Our proposed agreement is similar to those between NYSNA and eight other New York City hospitals. It is fair and responsible, and it puts patients first,” Mount Sinai Health System said.

    Several other private hospitals around the city reached deals with the union as the strike deadline loomed. The agreements included raises totaling 19% over three years.

    Mount Sinai and Montefiore said before the strike that they had offered the same pay boosts.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • In France, fuel crisis frays nerves and workers’ resilience

    In France, fuel crisis frays nerves and workers’ resilience

    [ad_1]

    VERSAILLES, France — Even close to midnight on a school night, the tipoff was too important to ignore: A nearby gas station had just been resupplied.

    So Aicha Far scooped up her 6-year-old and set off into the night. The home carer needed to refuel her car so she could continue looking after the vulnerable people on the outskirts of Paris who rely on her to keep them fed, clean and safe. The prospect of a full tank was worth dragging the kid out of bed for.

    “I wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the back,” Far recalled on Saturday, as she gently coaxed an older woman she looks after to drink her breakfast hot chocolate.

    Chronic fuel shortages in France sparked by strikes and panic buying are fraying nerves and testing both the resilience and ingenuity of millions of French workers who depend on their vehicles to do their jobs.

    More than a quarter of gas stations nationwide were still without one type of fuel or more on Saturday, the French energy minister said. In the Paris region, the number was above a third.

    Motorists have sometimes lined up for hours to refuel — not always successfully — and tempers have flared.

    In the town of Versailles, southwest of Paris, 41-year-old nurse Aurelie Martin is trying to eke out the precious fuel left in her tank — and bracing for the next time she’ll have to visit the pumps.

    She is up well before dawn to give jabs, change dressings and dispense other essential medical care to dozens of patients each morning.

    Rather than doing little hops in her Mini from one patient to the next, she’s increasingly scurrying on foot between them when she can, racking up 10 kilometers (six miles) of walking each morning to save fuel.

    “I’m doing the bare minimum by car,” she said as she made her rounds on Saturday. “I had hoped up to now that the situation would improve, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be getting better.”

    The strikes have hit French refineries and fuel depots. Strikers have demanded higher wages from what they feel should be their share of windfall profits generated by high oil and gas prices amid the global energy crisis aggravated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    After runs on toilet paper, pasta and other essentials at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, fuel and where to find it are the latest obsessions in France. The government has urged motorists not to panic-buy. Some gas stations have banned jerrycans.

    When Martin bumped into other nurses also making their early morning rounds on Saturday, gasoline was the first thing they talked about.

    One nurse who’d run out of fuel told Martin that one of her patients was offering to lend her his car. On messaging groups, nurses share tips about gas stations that have been resupplied or that have priority pumps for them and other essential workers.

    Martin said some of her fellow nurses have been yelled at by other motorists for trying to cut to the front of lines.

    With 30 to 40 patients to home-visit per day, Martin knows she’ll need to refuel early next week.

    “My day off is on Tuesday and I think the full tank that I had will last until then,” she said. “So on Tuesday, I’ll see if I need to spend the day lining up and that is what I will do if a gas station hasn’t been set aside for us.”

    “Truth be told,” she added, “I have been pushing back the inevitable moment.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link