Code Blue

CSEA President Jerry Laricchiuta (center) flanked by dozens of Nassau University Medical Center staffers criticizing proposed cuts

Maria-Marina Herrera, a registered nurse and a certified pediatric nurse at Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) for the past 20 years, worries about what will happen to the babies on her ward once a more demanding schedule is implemented next month. She fears the change from three 12-hour shifts to five 8-hour shifts may force out the most experienced staff, which will impact the quality of overall care.

“This CEO is only concerned about the bottom line,” says Herrera, referring to Arthur Gianelli, chair of the Nassau Health Care Corporation (NHCC), the public benefit corporation that runs NUMC, the Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, and seven community health centers. “To him, we’re just numbers,” she says, surrounded by nurses from other units who share similar concerns. “And guess who suffers—the patient.”

Herrera was speaking from the steps of the troubled hospital after Jerry Laricchiuta, president of the Civil Service Employees Association Nassau Local 830 (CSEA), called for the county to take NUMC back from NHCC and create a special tax district to help subsidize the medical center on Wed., May 13. “That was a dumb idea in 1999,” said Laricchiuta, referring to the prior administration’s move to sell the hospital to the NHCC.

“We’re here to ask for the residents’ help,” he said, pointing to a projected $34.2 million deficit for 2010. “This hospital is bigger than all of us put together.” Management proposed laying off 350 employees, privatizing healthcare services at the Nassau County jail and restructuring health benefits to help close that gap, the union president said.

“We’re not throwing the contract out the window,” Laricchiuta said, referring to a prior Gianelli statement. “We’re throwing his idea out the window.”

With the current health care worker contract set to expire on Dec. 31, both sides are sticking to their guns.

“The reality is that NHCC cannot spend more on salaries than what it brings in as revenues,” Gianelli responded through his spokeswoman. Profits are especially tough to come by at NUMC, as it is a safety net hospital where patients cannot be refused care, regardless of their ability to pay. The majority of patients are admitted through the emergency room. “Our goal is not to be a burden to the taxpayers,” he said of the tax idea.

A spokeswoman for the Nassau Legislature says that creating a tax for NUMC is not on the radar. Such a plan would be unlikely to be proposed prior to Election Day because all 19 legislators are up for re-election this year, sources say.  Calls to a spokeswoman for Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi were not returned.

Meanwhile, the CSEA membership recently voted in favor of concessions that avoided layoffs for the 7,000 county employees that are covered by a separate contract than the 3,400 health care corporation employees. As a part of the agreement, 325 members must now take early retirement.