[Peace-discuss] National Health Care Day of Action April 15

Sat Apr 11 13:24:45 UTC 2020

 <https://labornotes.org/> Labor Notes

Please Join: National Health Care Day of Action April 15

April 09, 2020 / Chris Brooks 

Nurse engaged in activity in laboratory

A national network of rank-and-file activists from nurses' unions is
organizing a National Day of Action on Tax Day, April 15. Photo: Vladimir
Morozov,  <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/> CC BY-SA 2.0,
cropped from original.

A national network of rank-and-file activists from New York State Nurses
Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Association of Staff
Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), Service Employees 1021, National
Nurses United Chicago, and other nurse unions is organizing a National Day
of Action on Tax Day, April 15.

Health care workers are encouraged to participate by taking on the actions
below-or come up with your own ideas. Be creative! Other unions should
contact local nurses unions to see how you can help.

Please let us know your plans by contacting Chris Brooks at
<mailto:chris at labornotes.org> chris at labornotes.org. Share your action,
before and after, on social media with the hashtag #THESYSTEMISBROKEN.

NATIONAL HEALTH CARE DAY OF ACTION ON TAX DAY, APRIL 15

TELL THE WORLD: #THESYSTEMISBROKEN

We are health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Please
support our National Day of Action on Tax Day, April 15, to tell the world
that #TheSystemIsBroken and demand that we reorganize the U.S. health care
system to prioritize the interests of patients over those of billionaires
and corporations.

Our private, for-profit health care system has left us with a deep scarcity
of resources and properly trained health care workers. We are not heroes and
we did not enlist to die in our jobs due to government inaction and
corporate greed. The pandemic has clearly exposed why critical
infrastructure, including our country's health care, cannot be left to the
market. 

The mass graves being dug for tomorrow are made deeper by the political
choices made today. We call for the U.S. health care system to be treated
like road maintenance, garbage disposal, education, fire protection, and any
other vital component of our social infrastructure. The entire system, from
the production of drugs and medical supplies to hospitals and health
clinics, should be nationalized and publicly administered on behalf of our
communities rather than privately owned and operated for the benefit of
billionaires and corporations. Faced with a lack of gloves, masks, beds and
staff, both
<https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-spain-nationalises-private-hosp
itals-emergency-covid-19-lockdown-2020-3> Spain and
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/26/ireland-nationalizes-hospitals
-duration-coronavirus> Ireland have nationalized their health care systems
to better coordinate the distribution of critical resources.

Our government must put patients over profits by directing and coordinating
the manufacture and distribution of vital medical resources and guaranteeing
that everyone is provided the quality health care they need with Medicare
for All.

EXAMPLES OF ACTIONS YOUR GROUPS CAN TAKE:

*	At Jacobi hospital in New York City, nurses
<https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/03/28/coronavirus-nurses-protest-outside-
bronx-hospital-about-lack-of-supplies-orders-to-reuse-protective-gear>
organized a short rally and press conference after their shift ended. They
placed protest signs on the ground six feet apart and had everyone go one at
a time to pick them up. They then went one by one to the microphone to speak
to the press.
*	PASNAP (Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied
Professionals) has created a  <https://www.pasnap.com/reportcard> Hospital
Response Report Card. Union members assessed each of their hospitals along
seven areas of concern during the pandemic. At union-organized press
conferences, these report cards are updated regularly to keep the public
informed about the state of issues in each facility.
*	Nurses in a Massachusetts hospital
<https://www.facebook.com/jillian.brelsford/posts/118814639761227> organized
a gown-making party, where they all got 39-gallon trash bags and practiced
turning them into a protective covering so that they have a "backup plan for
when we actually run out of gowns." They took photos and shared on social
media.
*	Nurses at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City
<https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-coronavirus-protests-nurses-2020040
3-xueyxkt4fjb4tfwcrrajht5sim-story.html> organized a press conference
outside the hospital, holding the photographs of coworkers who had died of
COVID-19 after not being provided the PPE they needed. They held signs
saying "We won't be your body bags."
*	Nurses at Provident Hospital were given 2 days notice that their
South Side Chicago ER was going to be closed for a month. This pandemic is
wrecking havoc upon African-Americans in particular, so they immediately
went into action. They have held a protest, released a video, and started a
<https://www.change.org/p/elected-officials-don-t-reduce-care-on-the-south-s
ide-of-chicago-during-a-pandemic-reopen-provident-s-er?utm_source=share_peti
tion&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=9bb7d920-a9ec-11e3-9a8a-3bbe025f0
19f> petition.
*	Nurses in Buffalo, New York organized
<https://buffalonews.com/2020/04/02/gallery13386> a car rally to draw
attention to their demand that the U.S. government use the Defense
Production Act to produce more PPE. They plastered signs all over their cars
and drove around Niagara Square honking their horns. They then held a press
conference, which was also livestreamed on Facebook.
*	Health care workers at Harlem Hospital
<https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/6/harlem_hospital_protest_nurses_new_yo
rk> organized a press conference, using a rope with knots in it every six
feet to ensure distancing. Nurses then went one at a time to a microphone to
share their stories.

OUR DEMANDS EXPLAINED

https://labornotes.org/sites/default/files/bullseye2.jpg

We demand that every health care worker be provided the PPE they need to
keep themselves, their families, and their patients safe: #PPEoverProfits.
Using the Defense Production Act, we can use our country's manufacturing
capacity to make gowns, N-95 masks, and ventilators. It is not enough for
some private companies to voluntarily begin manufacturing the resources we
need. We need the government to mandate that companies begin producing them
and that we produce a surplus not only for the United States but for all the
other countries that face a scarcity.

We need coordination of resources, not competition. Hospital systems and
states should not be in competition with one another for supplies. Nobody
should be afraid of not getting the care they need because of where they
live or because their hospital is not at the front of the line for
ventilators. We need a system for distributing PPE and other supplies based
on need rather than who has the deepest pockets or favorable political
connections. We know that the disease strikes particular regions before
others. For example, New York City is hit hard now. Rather than states
stockpiling resources and waiting their turn, those resources should be sent
to where they are needed. It is essential that frontline workers and their
unions be at the table with state and federal government officials to ensure
that resources are distributed to the hospitals and areas that need it most,
when they need it.

We demand mandatory safe staffing in every hospital. Health care workers are
being assigned far more high-acuity patients than they can safely care for.
Health care workers at Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital, for example, have
sometimes had as few as two nurses caring for 26 patients on 10 ventilators.
These courageous workers staged a work stoppage on April 6 to alert the
public to the dire situation. Frontline workers should be running the
staffing offices and determining the staffing levels appropriate in our
workplaces.

We must train nurses now. Due to lack of PPE and a big drop in lucrative
elective procedures, many hospitals across the country are laying off nurses
and other staff at the exact moment we should be training them and preparing
them to provide critical care to highly infectious patients. Nurses cannot
be expected to give critical care without proper training.

Child care for health care workers. Daycares and schools have made the
appropriate decision to close, but this has left health care workers, who
are often working long hours for many days in a row, with the challenge of
finding others who will risk exposing themselves to the virus by watching
their children. This is not a personal problem, but a social issue to be
addressed by the government and our employers with free, universal child
care for health care workers.

House health care workers in union hotels to protect their families. Due to
the lack of testing and PPE, every time health care workers go home to their
families they risk exposing them to the virus.

Medicare for All. With layoffs skyrocketing, millions of people are left
without insurance for themselves and their families. No one who seeks the
medical care they need and deserve in this moment should be left with a
bill. Hospitals should not be making decisions to cut costs in fear of the
impending budget crunch they will face. The solution is simple and clear: we
need a single-payer system and we need it now.

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