We are committed to keeping patients safe regardless of the economy

MSNA/NNOC has been in contract negotiations with Maine Coast Memorial Hospital since the Spring.  Nurses and professional staff have been asking for provisions in the contract that would protect safe, effective and therapeutic patient care and support the retention of experienced staff.

MCMH has good staffing now, but as cuts are made around the state, patient care could be negatively impacted — so let's put it in writing!  Research has shown that nurse to patient ratios;

• Reduce patient mortality rates
• Assure nurses more time to spend with patients
• Promote retention of experienced RNs

MCMH management has not agreed to these safety provisions but instead has asked for wage and other economical cuts.  MCMH has reported financial surpluses both on their website and in documents submitted to the state during the Certificate of Need process.  These cuts are not supportive of nurses and hospital professionals who have continuously delivered high quality care to the community.

Please support Safe Patient Care at MCMH
Attend the Afternoon of Action
Show support and solidarity for MCMH nurses!

For more information call 207-441-6762

Local Nurse Returns from Serving in Haitian Hospital

 
A local Portland registered nurse returned last week from serving a nine-day deployment at Hopital Sacre Coeur, the nation’s largest organization of RNs National Nurses United (NNU), announced today. 
 
Hopital Sacre Coeur (HSC), a 73-bed facility, is the largest private hospital in the north of Haiti, located 80 miles north of Port-au-Prince in the town of Milot.  NNU deployments to the hospital will continue for several months.  Before the earthquake, the hospital typically had 56,000 patients a year and people would often travel miles to receive care. After the disaster, tent hospitals were set up for the many additional patients as well as for discharged patients who had no housing. The deployments are expected to continue for several months. 
 
The group is part of a series of assignments of volunteer RNs from the NNU’s Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) which included working onboard the USNS Comfort, the critical Navy relief effort that cared for the most seriously injured in the first weeks following the disaster. After the disaster, tent hospitals were set up for the many additional patients as well as for discharged patients who had no housing. 
 
Lora Cook, RN an Emergency Room Nurse from Maine Medical Center signed up to volunteer right away.  She wasn’t sure what to expect, but a colleague had told her about the devastation, the rubble, the amputees, and the orphaned children, the mass amounts of people who were homeless and living on the side of the street:
 
"Nothing she could tell me would be able to prepare me for the experience.  Many Haitians lost everything; they have no house, no family and no friends.  At Hospital Sacre Coeur they have each other and they have their lives. That is what they are most thankful for.  I cannot begin to tell you of the many people that touched my life, but there is one story in particular that touched me deeply.
 
"There is a 2 year old boy, Jamesly, who was found in the rubble by a 14 year old boy.  The 14 year old boy pulled Jamesly out of the rubble and has not left his side since that day.  Jamesly has a crush injury with a tuberculosis abscess on his spine.  After being looked at by a neurosurgeon we were told that Jamesly is paralyzed and would not walk again.  Physical therapist, Nicole worked with Jamesly daily sometimes twice a day.  Jamesly began to get stronger and began to be able to feed himself.  One day I walked in to the Pediatric section to check on the children and I saw Jamesly crawling across the floor!  He was the happiest I have seen him, he had gained some independence back. 
 
"The very next day I went to the unit again to see Jamesly standing up using the cot as an aide.  We are now waiting on spinal surgery for Jamesly.  This shows us how strong even the youngest survivors are.
 
"I am so grateful to all of the Haitians and volunteers that taught me so much in my stay in Milot.  I will never forget the people of Haiti, and I am hoping to go back and volunteer for another stent", said Cook.

"We have learned from our experience in Hurricane Katrina, that the kind of skills needed in the weeks and months following a disaster are nursing skills," said Bonnie Castillo, RN, Director of RNRN.  "The kind of care that's needed is everyday care, and things are exacerbated by the lack of medication and basic first aid.  Wounds fester and spread. Something that was preventable ends up a life-threatening situation. Nurses are the heart of a long-term recovery effort."

ADOs - Now more than ever

With more hospitals statewide announcing cutbacks, nurses need to protect patient safety and fill out the ADO forms.

Americans Deserve More From Health Care Debate

A Guest Column by MSNA/NNOC member Cecile Martin, Rn as printed in the Bangor Daily News

As a direct care nurse of more than 40 years, I am amazed at the lack of commitment on the part of our representatives in Washington to universal health care. It has led to countless Americans feeling unrepresented, forgotten and denied the care they deserve.

I recently had the privileged of representing the direct care nurses who are members of the Maine State Nurses Association-National Nurses Organizing Committee at forums on health care held with Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Mike Michaud.

I was disappointed with the events. Sen. Snowe seems too focused on giving another chance to insurance companies through her idea of “triggers,” while Rep. Michaud admitted he barely understood and did a poor job advocating for the “public option” at the heart of the Washington debate.

Both ideas are insufficient and neither addresses the crippling costs our patients face or achieves truly universal coverage. As a result health care would remain more of a privilege than a right.

MSNA-NNOC supports a form of universal health care coverage called single payer. Such a form of universal access to medical, dental and prescription coverage for all Americans is the only proposal thus far that would make health care available to every citizen, regardless of income.

Yet, our representatives continue to ignore this option in favor of complicated solutions that continue to favor the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies and big hospital corporations. The health care industry has become such a powerful player on Wall Street that the rights of the citizens on Main Street no longer seem to be at the forefront of the political debates.

And what do these insurance and other health care corporations want? A multi-tiered system, tilted towards those blessed with the ability to purchase high-end health insurance products from companies that seek to turn human suffering into profitable gain.

Why are we willing to watch as countless Americans suffer under the burden of a health care system that insists on payment “at the time services are rendered,” as if the purchase of health care is on the same level as buying a movie ticket or a new dress? Why are we satisfied with a system where medications are so costly that many either go without needed medications or skip doses? Why are we subsidizing the health care of our representatives in Washington, who don’t seem interested in improving the care of their constituents?

As Americans, we have mounted fierce, effective fights in this country to obtain and preserve our rights. The patients of this nation, and their advocates, now have no choice other than a full-throated campaign to win our right to health care. This is the human rights issue of our day for America.

Unfortunately, I have come in contact with patients who had poor and even fatal outcomes due to delayed or denied medical care due to lack of ability to pay. This, my fellow citizens, should find us all demonstrating in the streets. There is absolutely nothing equal about how health care is delivered in this country.

We should demand our rights as citizens to universal access to an affordable, top quality health care system. We still have great options to bring this about. HR 676 and S 703, by Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Bernie Sanders, would bring American health care closer in line with the European systems that outperform us. The “Kucinich Amendment” to the main House health care bill would allow states like Maine to experiment with similar state-based “single-payer” programs.

We need to speak out, loud and clear, to every representative in Washington, demanding that access to health care be recognized as a basic right for all Americans. We need to catch up to other industrialized nations in establishing a single-payer system that will not leave anyone out. We should demand the same level of medical, dental, optical and prescription drug coverage that they enjoy.

If our Washington representatives won’t bring health care to America — then it’s time to bring health care reform to Washington.

Assignment Despite Objection Form

Much ADO About Staffing….

Q:         What‘s an ADO and what does it have to do with me?

A:         An Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form is a documentation tool which provides a means for you to object to an unsafe, or potentially unsafe, patient care assignment.

Q:         Why should I fill out an ADO?

A:         If, in your professional judgment, you believe a patient care assignment is unsafe, or potentially unsafe, you have a legal and professional obligation to notify your employer so the problem can be corrected and injury or harm to a patient can be averted. If your employer makes a decision not to correct the situation that response needs to be documented in order to protect yourself in the event of adverse outcomes for the patients or other staff.

Q:         What if the supervisor disagrees with my assessment or states she is unable to correct the problem?

A:         You should advise her that an ADO form will be completed.

Q:         Does each RN working on the floor need to fill out a separate ADO in this situation?

A:         No. In fact, it’s more effective for all the affected nursing staff to sign the ADO as a sign of consensus about the unsafe situation.

Q:         What if we’re too busy to fill out an ADO form?

A:         Make sure that SECTION VII-ACTION at the very bottom of the form is completed first. The remaining information in the form can be filled in later, or after, your shift.

Q:         Where does the ADO go after we fill it out?

A:         Copies of the ADO should go to the supervisor, the Professional Practice Committee (PPC), and your MSNA/NNOC Labor Representative (Mail to MSNA/NNOC at 160 Capitol St Suite 1, Augusta, ME  04330).  Also save a copy for your records. 

Q:         Can I be disciplined or harassed for filling out an ADO?

A:         Most supervisors and Nursing managers understand that this is an activity protected by law. If you believe your manager is trying to interfere with or discourage you and your co-workers from using the ADO notify your MSNA/NNOC Labor Rep immediately. 

Download and fax or mail an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form
Download and fax or mail an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form for HHVN Local #5050