MNA Blog (Page 33)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

On:
In: Member Blog, Unions

By Lori Christian, RN, BS, CEN
MNAF Chair

The Minnesota Nurses Association Foundation (MNAF) is now accepting scholarship applications for MNA Members or Associate Members in good standing for the 2020-2021 academic year. As Chair of MNAF, it is a great honor to give these scholarships to deserving MNA members!

Our recent Educator of the Year award was presented to Yisehak Tura, MS, RN, OCN, who received one of our scholarships and now teaches nurses. What a way to pay it forward! He is still an active Union Member who works part-time as a bedside nurse as well.
… Read more about: MNAF Scholarship Deadline Coming Soon  »

On:
In: Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – May 4, 2020 – The Minnesota Nurses Association members are frustrated and disappointed with today’s decision to open the door for elective surgeries without adequate protection for workers. Nurses have warned the Governor, health officials, and hospitals that safety must come first before resuming elective procedures, including surgeries. With nurses currently unable to access adequate levels of PPE to address the COVID crisis, allowing elective procedures to resume will only put added strain on PPE distribution putting nurses, patients, and the public at risk.
… Read more about: MNA Nurses Warn of Risks of Resuming Elective Procedures Without Precautions  »

On:
In: Press Releases

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – April 30, 2020 – Minnesota nurses, firefighters, frontline workers, and employees designated essential will gather at the Minnesota State Capitol Friday night, May 1, to honor those who have become infected with COVID-19 while on the job.

In honor of International Workers’ Day as well as the Workers’ Memorial Day in Minnesota this week, workers on the frontline will light candles and give a short presentation on the Capitol steps to show support for workers quarantined, hospitalized, or injured, or who have died due to their dedication to serving fellow Minnesotans.
… Read more about: Nurses, First Responders, Essential Workers Honor Those Hurt by COVID-19  »

On:
In: Home, Member Blog, Mental Health

 

By Teresa Koenen, RN
St. Peter Forensic Mental Health
MN Department of Human Services

 

I wish healthcare administrators would just be honest with us.

I am a nurse for the State of Minnesota at our forensic mental health program in St. Peter. We care for people who have mental illness and have harmed others. If a patient contracts COVID, we would care for them in our facility unless they required hospitalization.

We need appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) if we are to protect ourselves and other patients from contracting the virus.
… Read more about: Just Be Honest with Us–Don’t Try to Give Us a False Sense of Security  »

On:
In: Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
​
Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org
​

(St. Paul) – April 25, 2020 – The Minnesota Nurses Association has serious concerns with Executive Order 20-46, which allows nurses from other states to work at Long Term Care and other healthcare facilities, just as hundreds of Minnesota RN’s will begin receiving unemployment checks due to furlough.

Despite efforts to negotiate with Minnesota Hospitals, the terms of these furloughs force nurses to either go without a paycheck or jeopardize their ability to return to work after the pandemic.
… Read more about: MNA Response to Opening Up Minnesota to Out-of-State Nurses  »

On:
In: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Hospitals, Legislative Policy, PPE, Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
​
Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org
​

(St. Paul) – April 22, 2020 – MNA Nurses applaud the measure passed by St. Paul City Council members to tell United and other hospitals to implement the highest standards of infection protection policies to protect workers. Council members drafted the resolution after hearing the stories from emergency department (ED) workers at United Hospital.

“Nurses were afraid to come to work,” said Brittany Livaccari, a Registered Nurse at United Hospital in St.
… Read more about: MNA Nurses Applaud St. Paul Council Measure to Protect COVID-19 Frontline Workers  »

On:
In: COVID-19, Home, Member Blog, Patient Safety, PPE

By Megan Chao Smith, RN

MNA Member

 

As a nurse, I am in fear for my life, and feel like I am the only one taking my safety into account. I am less frightened about contracting the virus as I am shaken by the prospect of entrusting my safety to the current, irresponsible thinking and policies of my employer. In the face of a callous disregard for nurse safety, I am forced to weigh self-preservation with the real needs of patients in a time of national crisis. I have to choose between serving my oath, which risks my life and family’s health, and leaving my job and co-workers.
… Read more about: Who’s Got My Back?  »

On:
In: COVID-19, Home, Member Blog

by Emily Pierskalla, RN

MNA Member

What is it like being a nurse in a pandemic? Every day I bounce through the stages of grief like a pinball. The ricochet and whiplash leaves my soul tired and bruised.

Denial: I have spent less and less time in the denial stage. Still, I see many of my loved ones, politicians, and laypersons still stuck in this phase.

Anger: When our elders and immuno-suppressed folks are referred to as disposable members of society, when the pocketbooks of stockholders are considered more important than human lives, when we’ve known for decades this pandemic was coming, I burn with anger, anger at the system that prioritizes profits over health.
… Read more about: I Want My Death to Make You Angry  »

On:
In: Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: press@nationalnursesunited.org

As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket in the United States, unions representing 230,000 nurses across the country have joined forces to demand hospitals and the government act now to give nurses optimal personal protective equipment (PPE)—including N95 respirators or higher—a demand made more dire due to the fact that nurses are beginning to die of COVID-19.

National Nurses United (comprising the California Nurses Association, the D.C. Nurses Association, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and National Nurses Organizing Committee— including RNs in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Texas, West Virginia, and Veterans Affairs facilities in a dozen other states), along with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) are calling on employers and the government to stop treating nurses as if their lives are expendable.
… Read more about: U.S. nurses unions: ‘Our members are dying. We demand protections now!’  »

On:
In: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Home, Member Blog

By Sue Kreitz, RN

Board Member, Member of CARN

I know I’m not the only one in horror watching the situation of our colleagues in places, including Italy and Spain, who are dealing with during this pandemic. I think one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve heard is that a doctor describing how he had to make decisions about who gets the life-sustaining treatments with ventilators and who doesn’t. Just last week, the Washington Post had an article about hospitals considering placing Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders on COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, this could become real for us in the USA.

This morning I was listening to a program discussing ethics in the time of a pandemic and what this means for our health and society.
… Read more about: Difficult conversations during a pandemic  »