Stories
Nurses care for New York—in the best and worst of times. Hear from New York City nurses who are on the frontlines of defending access to quality care for all New Yorkers, and share your patient story today!
“My unit is very fast paced. We need to get the patients up and out, because the studies show the faster you get patients up and moving, the better their outcomes. So when you don't have enough nurses, it leads to delays, and those delays keep patients in the hospital longer and put them at more risk.”
— RUSSELL PINSKER, Memorial Medical Center
“I wish more people understood the complexity of what we do. We don't just answer call bells and give out medications and put people on bedpans. All those things are important. But we're there to protect them. We’re their biggest advocate, we make sure that things get done.”
— LISA YENO, Richmond University Medical Center
“My favorite thing about being a nurse is, first of all, I love my profession. I love taking care of people, giving compassionate care, seeing really good outcomes, and making a difference in someone's life.”
— MONLEY ADAMS, Maimonides Medical Center
“Safe staffing means to me a lot, because when I took my oath, I pledged to give quality care to all my patients, regardless of who they are, where they live, their race, or the circumstances that made them come to the hospital. Without enough nurses at the bedside, we can’t give quality care to our patients.”
— FLANDERSIA JONES, Bronx Health Care System
“My favorite thing about being a nurse is helping people. I know that sounds very cliche. Probably everyone says that. But for me, that's really my favorite thing. I enjoy being able to comfort my patients when they're afraid, when they're nervous or anxious. I enjoy being able to care for them when they're at their lowest points, and feeling very ill and sick, and knowing that by the time they finish their treatments, they usually leave feeling better.”
— SIMONE WAY, Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital
“I believe hospitals are very important to every community. A ten minute commute makes a difference between life and death for people who are having strokes, acute asthma attacks, heart attacks. Essential healthcare services should be available to every patient, in every community.”
— SHARON BEDFORD, Interfaith Medical Center
“Every patient is a VIP. Whether you live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the outer boroughs, or upstate, every patient is supposed to get the care they deserve. It doesn't matter whether you have the money or not. Quality care is a right, not a privilege. “
— ARI MOMA, Interfaith Medical Center
“Hospital executives should stop treating patient care as a business. It's not a business. We deal with patient lives, and patient lives matter. Safe staffing matters. So we need more nurses so we can give the quality of patient care that our community deserves.”
— COLLETTE DOBBINS, Montefiore Medical Center
“It is critical to have enough nurses at the bedside. I know from personal experience as a patient after I had surgery. I was in a facility that was well-managed, that provided the adequate number of nurses, and I had an adverse event. I really depended on my nurse to save me.”
— VIVIENNE PHILLIPS, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center
“New York Presbyterian Hospital should be hiring nurses and not laying off nurses, because nurses provide compassionate continuity of care that patients deserve.”
— ARETHA MORGAN, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
“We need more nurses at the bedside to take care of patients, so you can give good, quality care. We have young nurses coming out now. They’re feeling on top of the world. They’re ready to care for patients. But when they get to the bedside, they become overwhelmed because so much is needed of them. If they had fewer patients, they could give that care and not be overwhelmed. And be energized to come back again the next day.”
— DENASH FORBES, Mount Sinai West
“At the end of the day, I like to see my patients have good outcomes. As a midwife, I want my patient to be healthy. And if she's pregnant, I want the baby to be healthy. And that's the bottom line.”
— YVETTE BYER-HENRY, Brooklyn Hospital Center
“There's nothing greater than saving someone's life. When a patient comes in, we are doing our best to save their life. We have minutes—sometimes seconds—to save a patient's life. It's never the same. It changes each day, each moment. But our job is to save lives.”
— SHERNETTE BROWN, Montefiore Medical Center
“Mount Sinai, find a way. Find a way to hire more nurses. Find a way to hire more PCAs. Understaffing affects our patients. It affects the way we work every day. You have to find a way.”
— DARLA JOINER, Mount Sinai Hospital
“Unsafe staffing impacts the type of care nurses are able to provide for our patients. When we’re understaffed, nurses feel overwhelmed and unsupported—and as a result patients feel they are not being provided with the quality of care they deserve and that nurses want to provide.”
— MICHELLE JONES, Flushing Hospital Medical Center
“Hospital administrators always say there's never enough money. But what we should remember is that in order to give patients the care that they need, we need to have more nurses at the bedside. We need to have investment in nurse programs and nurses, so that they all stay.”
— DALIA BRADFORD, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
