“Hate has no Place in Healthcare!”
Nurses & healthcare workers decry cruel Federal rule that would
jeopardize patient safety for women, LGBTQI patients, and others
(San Francisco, CA) This morning, nurses, healthcare workers, and community allies spoke out to oppose a final rule change by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This rule change would destroy healthcare workers’ “duty to care” by allowing religious objections to care that will impact LGBTQI patients, women’s healthcare, and more.
A letter of support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is available here.
Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Committee of Interns and Residents (SEIU), SEIU Nurse Alliance of California, faith leaders including Rev. Claire Bohman and Fresh “Lev” White, and Chief of Staff Dan Bernal from Speaker Pelosi’s San Francisco office all took part in this morning’s ceremony to speak out against the Trump administration’s discriminatory rule change.
Nurses and allies then symbolically chained themselves together with a string of paper hearts to represent their unity and commitment to caring for every patient and defending access to lifesaving care.
“Just as people with HIV were demonized in the 1980s, the federal government is again encouraging the unethical and inhumane treatment of patients and justifying it as ‘religious freedom.’ But healthcare providers, especially here in San Francisco, are committed to fighting for our patients and our profession,” said SEIU 1021 member Sasha Cuttler, a Registered Nurse at San Francisco General Hospital.
“Religiously observant healthcare workers learn, as the adults we are, how to navigate our choices of work, taking into account the realities of patient needs and own beliefs. It is incumbent on us to make job decisions that would never result in our denying a patient care. It is patients who need protections and a guarantee that they will be treated with dignity, and will have access to quality care, care as excellent and thorough as the next person. These inhumane rules from a Health (and supposedly) Human Services Department allow individual healthcare workers, as well as religiously based healthcare systems, to discriminate and withhold care,” said SEIU 1021 Mary Magee, RN.
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SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, non-profit agencies, health care programs and schools throughout Northern California, including 20,000 in San Francisco. SEIU 1021 represents more than half of all workers employed by the City and County of San Francisco; registered nurses and other healthcare workers at the city’s hospitals, clinics, and jails; court workers, and nonprofit workers who provide care and support to the city’s most vulnerable populations.
More and more nurses are reporting that they are clocking out
and then finishing the day’s work. They report feeling pressured by
their managers to clock out and forego the appropriate overtime
pay. Don’t do it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!
By clocking out and continuing to work:
• You are violating the hospital’s time-keeping policy and could
be disciplined. Employees can be terminated for inaccurate
time-keeping.
• You put yourself at risk if issues arise. You will have a hard time
explaining how you were clocked out but still providing
patient care. You might even face charges of fraud for charting while not on duty.
• The hospital’s liability insurance will not cover you if you are
working off the clock. This includes breaks and lunches!
There are many reasons you may not be able to complete work
before quitting time: lack of support staff on the unit, higher patient
acuity, increased patient needs and demands, and increasing
amount of required paper work.
At the end of your shift, chart all of the excellent care you provided to
your patients. If you are not going to complete your work on time then
notify the charge nurse. If you are the charge nurse, notify your
manager.
You should not be asked to jeopardize your professional and ethical
standards in order to provide care. And, you should be compensated
for all time worked.
If you feel pressured to clock out and then continue working,
contact your Union steward, Worksite Organizer or Union Representative right away.
SEIU nurses leading the way, again!
SEIU Nurse Practitioners teaming up with their Registered Nurse colleagues helped pass the landmark legislation, AB 890 (Woods) that allows Nurse Practitioners to work without standardized procedures or physician supervision in defined healthcare settings after completing a transition to practice.
Beginning January 1, 2023, authorizes a certified NP to practice independently outside of a defined healthcare setting after completing 3 years in those settings with independent practice.
It took a few tries, but nurses make the best, most relentless advocates! This time for themselves in order to better serve our under-served communities that often lack primary care providers. This will open up access to care in low income communities that are too often also communities of color.
SEIU is dedicated to looking at every issue, solving every problem through a racial justice lens. Now, more than ever that has to be our top priority.
The Nurse Alliance of SEIU California, is honored to have been a part of the passage of AB 890 and now to be working with our Nurse Practitioners, the Board of Registered Nursing and allies in developing the necessary regulatory changes that will allow our California Nurse Practitioners to finally be able to work with full practice authority!
Raising Standards for Patients flyer 2021-1-1
Nurse Alliance of SEIU California (NA of CA) is your professional organization; consisting of 35,000 Registered Nurses from Locals across the state. Our members work in both public and private healthcare settings, from community based public health and acute care to corrections, mental health and homeless outreach. We are advocates united to improve healthcare and the profession of nursing through education, empowerment, and action. Beyond our practice, we believe that union membership is the key to a strong middle class and economy, but there cannot be economic justice until there is racial justice. As leaders, we are addressing the threat of climate change and supporting disaster relief efforts. As union nurses, we are committed to nurturing and caring for our global community.
