Baltimore's City Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday endorsing "free and fair union elections for all hospital and nursing home workers in every facility throughout the city." In a city where only nine percent of health care workers are currently unionized (but one in five Baltimore jobs are in health care), this is big news!

The resolution states that unionized healthcare workers are best able to protect quality patient care and work with employers toward shared goals, such as expanding training and education opportunities. "In the past, local health care employers have hired high-priced anti-worker consultants and diverted patient care dollars into fear campaigns to silence caregivers," says SEIU 1199 Communications Director Stacey Mink. "These anti-worker campaigns not only waste health care resources, they ultimately take the focus off patient care."

More on why free and fair elections are so important for caregivers seeking to form unions here.

Baltimore's City Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday endorsing "free and fair union elections for all hospital and nursing home workers in every facility throughout the city." In a city where only nine percent of health care workers are currently unionized (but one in five Baltimore jobs are in health care), this is big news!

The resolution states that unionized healthcare workers are best able to protect quality patient care and work with employers toward shared goals, such as expanding training and education opportunities. "In the past, local health care employers have hired high-priced anti-worker consultants and diverted patient care dollars into fear campaigns to silence caregivers," says SEIU 1199 Communications Director Stacey Mink. "These anti-worker campaigns not only waste health care resources, they ultimately take the focus off patient care."

More on why free and fair elections are so important for caregivers seeking to form unions here.

Amidst national dialogue on healthcare reform, healthcare workers from 1199SEIU sent a letter today to all Massachusetts legislators to honor the request of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy to allow an interim appointment by the Governor to fill his seat in the U.S. Senate. The letter stresses that MA "must have two voices and two votes" in upcoming Congressional debates and is signed by 1199SEIU Executive VP Mike Fadel and Political Director Tim Foley on behalf of the 34,000 Massachusetts members of 1199SEIU.

[Healthcare workers] are particularly committed to ensuring the passage of national healthcare reform. Senator Kennedy's legacy is rooted in a lifetime of service to our state and in the effort to provide healthcare as a right for all and not a privilege for the few.

The letter piggybacks the launch of WeNeedTwo.org, a new website and petition urging the Massachusetts State Legislature to change state law to allow temporary replacement for his seat to ensure the state has full representation in Congress. Today outside the MA State House as MA representatives have their first debate about ensuring the state has two Senators, 1199SEIU and other groups supporting legislation that would allow for an interim appointment are holding a press conference.

Read the letter (PDF) here.

With Labor Day just around the corner and only six days left of Congressional recess, Locals across the country are gearing up for a busy weekend. But, amidst the upcoming celebrations, SEIU members are still working hard for health care reform.

OHIO: SEIU nurse Barb Montgomery joined the Organizing for America Health Insurance Reform Now bus tour during its stop in Columbus, OH on Monday, where over 2,000 activists rallied and paid tribute to Senator Kennedy's legacy on health care reform. At the event, Montgomery shared both her own story and that of family members and friends, further illustrating why Americans need health insurance reform.

RHODE ISLAND: Rep. Jim Langevin joined doctors, nurses and health care workers at Rhode Island's Women and Infants Hospital (the only maternity hospital in the state!) as they signed scrubs with their message to Congress: we need health insurance for all Americans. The event was covered on a variety of blogs, including a great post on Rhode Island's Future.

MAINE: At an an event organized by SEIU Maine Change that Works, AFSCME, the Maine People's Alliance and Organizing for America, a passionate group of healthcare activists delivered more than 35,000 letters, postcards, emails, and online petitions from all over the state to urge Senator Olympia Snowe to stand up for quality, affordable healthcare for every man, woman and child. Senator Snowe was not the only one who heard our message--the front page of the Bangor Daily News the next day featured a front page story with pictures of our activists and the headline "Health care reform fans blitz Snowe with 35,000 messages." Read more.

FLORIDA: More than 1,200 people from across Florida gathered on Saturday to help jump-start the reform debate. "There's a Washington debate, but now people in Orlando can get involved," said SEIU Healthcare Florida president Monica Russo. Community members, people of faith, retirees, union members and healthcare workers arrived in buses and cars from Tallahassee, Tampa Bay, Miami, Broward County, Jacksonville and Palm Beach to pack a gym in downtown Orlando sending a message to Congress: healthcare reform can't wait! Central Florida's 7th, 8th, 24th congressional districts together have 403,000 people without health insurance. Watch video.

CALIFORNIA: In Los Angeles, SEIU United Long-Term Care Workers (ULTCW) has scheduled a free screening of Michael Moore's movie Sicko, followed by a panel discussion with health care professionals and special guests. After the event, attendees will also be able to engage in a variety of actions, like calling elected officials and taping their own personal health care story, in support of health care reform. More details here.

On a related note....don't forget to vote for your favorite video of Congress members at town hall meetings debunking the lies and refocusing discussions about healthcare reform. Vote here.

Doctors, nurses and other health care workers provide comfort and care to some of the sickest Americans, rarely able to leave their posts for any period of time because lives are at stake. As a result, their voices have been largely absent from the debate around health care reform.

But, through the Scrubs campaign "Every Patient Matters," healthcare workers around the country have been able to send their message to Congress. Check out this video from Prince George's Hospital Center in MD to see what they said:

SEIU Calling on State and Local Health Departments to Adopt Preventive Measures

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -- the nation's largest organization of healthcare workers, uniting more than 1 million doctors, nurses, hospital workers, and long-term care workers -- backed the first and only comprehensive, scientific review that offers guidelines to protect healthcare workers caring for patients with a suspected or confirmed case of H1N1 (Swine Flu).

An Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel, which included a broad based group of experts in occupational health and infection, concluded in a report released this morning that the lowest level of protection for healthcare workers, when caring for a patient with a suspected or confirmed case of H1N1 (Swine Flu), is a fitted NIOSH certified respirator. The IOM convened the panel over the past two months at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

While the recommendations by this panel differ from those of other groups recommending surgical masks, the IOM panel was unique in that It included experts with extensive knowledge of respiratory protection and the behavior of bioaerosols. It was also the most comprehensive review to date of the very latest published and unpublished scientific evidence.

"It's extremely important that health departments across the country to adopt the recommendations by the IOM panel. The call to use NIOSH approved respirators to protect healthcare workers means protecting the people they care for," stated Mary Kay Henry, SEIU Executive Vice President and long-time advocate for healthcare workers across the country.

"Healthcare workers want to do their job in caring for their patients. But, they need to know that they are being protected. They want to be there to care for us when we get sick or injured, we need to be there for them by ensuring adequate workplace respiratory protections," said Henry.

PANEL CONCLUSIONS:

Surgical masks are incapable of forming a face seal between the mask and the users face, thus providing a poor barrier from the inhalation of airborne flu particles. This is particularly important with H1N1, as research with the H1N1 virus indicates that it is the smaller respirable sized viral particles that get deep in the lung to cause disease, making this flu virus different than seasonal flu.

Many state and local health departments have ignored this advice and recommended inferior surgical masks or no respiratory protections at all, while federal guidance by CDC, OSHA and NIOSH have supported fitted respirators for healthcare workers when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed cases of H1N1 since the start of the H1N1 pandemic.

Finally, it is critical that healthcare employers purchase and stockpile sufficient quantities of NIOSH approved respirators so that healthcare workers can be assured of protection as the fall flu season approaches. There have been reports of spot shortages of some models and brands of disposable single use N95 respirators. In the event of shortages of disposable single use N95 respirators, it is important for healthcare employers to also purchase at least one elastomeric respirator for each potentially exposed healthcare worker. These types of respirators can be disinfected and reused. The Veterans Health Administration, for instance, has just purchased 170,000 elastomeric respirators (with speaking diaphragms that assist in communication with patients) to protect their employees if their stockpile of disposable single use N95 respirators runs out.

"We're also calling on OSHA to use its authority to ensure employers establish comprehensive respiratory protection programs to protect healthcare workers from H1N1," said Henry.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, federal OSHA is statutorily charged with ensuring that employers take all reasonable actions to protect workers from hazards that pose significant risk to workers' health and safety.

POPULATION RISKS:

H1N1 appears to pose a particular risk to working-age people as more than 95 percent of hospitalized cases are of individuals under the age of 65--the exact opposite pattern for those hospitalized for seasonable flu. There is no vaccine yet and workers who eventually get vaccinated are not expected to have full immunity until at least Thanksgiving.

Over the past month, members of Congress have returned home to hear the voices of their constituents through town hall meetings. They've listened to patients' stories, which illustrated so clearly why America can't wait for health care reform. But they've also heard from people who've twisted the facts and distorted the truth.

Every nurse, doctor and healthcare worker has a story: Now, they need to hear healthcare stories from front-line caregivers and other healthcare workers about their patients, their families and even themselves.

SEIU, as part of the Partnership for Quality Care, is sending surgical scrubs to nurses and health care workers across the country. We're asking them to write their stories on the scrubs and send them to Washington. At the end of the month, we're going to welcome Congress back to Capitol Hill by delivering the stories that have been written on scrubs to their offices.

Sign up now to receive your scrubs: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/scrub

The scrubs we've already collected, like one from a nurse in Nevada, show the clear need for health care reform. She wrote that after being diagnosed with severe kidney disease, she was almost driven into bankruptcy by the cost of her treatment. Though she has insurance now as an SEIU member, she is still trying to pay her previous medical bills. Others wrote about their patients who delayed care until it was too late, or were unable to receive any care at all because of their insurance situation.

Join thousands of nurses and health care workers and share your stories today: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/scrub

Americans--health care workers in particular--know that there is too much at stake to put reform off. That know that being forced to choose between filling your prescriptions and filling your refrigerator isn't a choice anyone should have to make. Make sure that your member of Congress knows that as well.

Beginning today -- July 1st, 2009 -- mandatory overtime is a thing of the past for any healthcare worker in Pennsylvania providing direct patient care. This victory is the culmination of a 7-year struggle by nurses and other healthcare workers who repeatedly marched, called, emailed and lobbied their legislators to support this important patient safety legislation.

With the exception of true emergencies and unforseen events, the law protects all nurses and health care providers from discipline by their employers for refusing to work overtime. Nurses and other caregivers will no longer have to worry about making mistakes or falling asleep while driving home because we had to work over our regularly scheduled shift. This is a monumental day for patient safety in Pennsylvania.

SEIU Healthcare PA has been working to educate caregivers on the legislation and how to implement it at their facilities. Now it's up to our hospitals, nursing homes, State facilities and other health care employers to begin adhering to the new law. If you have questions about how the law is being followed at your facility, you can fill out this form on the SEIU Healthcare PA website. Read more about what is covered in the legislation and how it applies to your facility by downloading Your Guide to Act 102.

Beginning today -- July 1st, 2009 -- mandatory overtime is a thing of the past for any healthcare worker in Pennsylvania providing direct patient care. This victory is the culmination of a 7-year struggle by nurses and other healthcare workers who repeatedly marched, called, emailed and lobbied their legislators to support this important patient safety legislation.

With the exception of true emergencies and unforseen events, the law protects all nurses and health care providers from discipline by their employers for refusing to work overtime. Nurses and other caregivers will no longer have to worry about making mistakes or falling asleep while driving home because we had to work over our regularly scheduled shift. This is a monumental day for patient safety in Pennsylvania.

SEIU Healthcare PA has been working to educate caregivers on the legislation and how to implement it at their facilities. Now it's up to our hospitals, nursing homes, State facilities and other health care employers to begin adhering to the new law. If you have questions about how the law is being followed at your facility, you can fill out this form on the SEIU Healthcare PA website. Read more about what is covered in the legislation and how it applies to your facility by downloading Your Guide to Act 102.

Two new TV dramas about registered nurses - Nurse Jackie on Showtime and Hawthorne on TNT - premiere during the month of June. They join a host of TV programs that are set in hospitals, such as Grey's Anatomy, House and Scrubs.

The portrayal of the medical profession on TV: I've heard this topic discussed on more than one occasion by people going through residency themselves, or that work in a hospital. They've all said that Scrubs--unlike many other medical TV shows--does capture the training process, the profession, and the essence of a hospital setting with surprising accuracy. On the surface, Scrubs may seem like 30 straight minutes of slapstick comedy, absurd fantasy sequences, and slightly inappropriate jokes. However, the show is also about what happens at hospitals between life-and-death crises--the thought processes and insecurities of being a young doctor in training, the way doctors and nurses handle ordinary cases and never knowing what kind of case will come through the doors.

Tell us what you think: Do any of the programs accurately depict the lives of healthcare workers, and is your situation reflected in any of these programs? Share your opinion in the comments section (below).

SEIU has endorsed Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act legislation reintroduced by Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). The new version of the bill, formerly introduced in 2004, 2005 and 2007, would establish a program to distribute grants to colleges and other institution to retrain workers in communities with high unemployment to take jobs in healthcare.

From Modern Healthcare:

The bill would commit a total of $25 million through workforce boards in areas that have high unemployment rates from manufacturing job losses, and also have a shortage of qualified healthcare workers. Unlike past versions, the new bill would also apply to retraining existing healthcare workers.

Legislation to put unemployed folks back to work couldn't come at a better time, as the Labor Department reported today that the unemployment rate has increased to 9.4 percent from 8.9 percent in April--with nearly 50 percent of May's job losses coming from the manufacturing sector. The key to moving past the recession will be improving the employment situation, so investing in areas that have been hit especially hard is just good policy.

More details on the bill here.

Nearly 100 doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals gathered Friday in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in support of quality, affordable health care for all.

Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, our nation's leaders came together in this same spot to affirm certain inalienable rights: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These days, though, far too many Americans are denied their pursuit of happiness, grappling with a health care system that obstructs the vision outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Watch Dr. L. Toni Lewis, resident physicians from the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare and other health care professionals explain why they're rallying for health care reform in Philadelphia this weekend.

Collective bargaining on behalf of some 140,000 hospital and nursing home workers is beginning this month in New York City. Representing 1199SEIU will be an elected Negotiating Committee of some 500 rank-and-file healthcare workers. They will be conducting parallel talks with representatives of the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes and the Greater New York association of nursing homes.

The nursing home negotiations are set to begin today, May 8; the League talks will open on May 13. Union Negotiating Committee members from "Me Too" institutions--those that model their contracts on the League's but don't belong to it--will attend the League negotiations. The goal of the joint decision to reopen the contract is to find ways to stabilize the pension fund and preserve members' pension benefits.

For more information, visit 1199SEIU's news center.

Many of our nation's health care facilities are not prepared to protect health care workers from exposures to pandemic influenza, according to a new report compiled by the SEIU and six other unions, "Healthcare Workers in Peril: Preparing to Protect Worker Health and Safety During Pandemic Influenza." To determine the level of worker safety and health preparedness on a facility basis, a "pandemic flu preparedness survey" was distributed to 104 healthcare facilities in 14 states over the course of 2008.

In the event of a widespread flu outbreak, health care workers would have increased vulnerability to the virus, both through their normal everyday activities and in the health care environment where sick patients come for care. The report results indicate that a number of health care facilities have made some progress in preparing for a pandemic flu epidemic - but "some" progress does not equal nearly "enough" preparedness, given the high risks of a potential pandemic influenza outbreak, which typically strikes three to four times a century.

Report Findings: Only 4 percent of surveyed union leaders representing health care workers reported that their workplaces were "very ready" to respond sufficiently to an influenza pandemic, while another 33 percent felt their facilities were "ready for most things." While reading over this report myself, I was surprised to discover that more than a third of the clinics surveyed have no pandemic flu plan in place at all. Forty-three percent of survey respondents said that, given the current level of preparedness at their facility to minimize personal exposure while caring for infected patients, "most or some members will stay home" in the event of a pandemic outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued guidelines for preventing the spread of a pandemic flu disease that that fall into this line of thinking, recommending that during emerging health threats people should stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

This advice clearly makes sense, as sick employees going to work contributes to the spread of diseases like swine flu.

The latest issue of Modern Healthcare lists the Top 25 Women in Healthcare, naming our very own Mary Kay Henry as one of those on the front lines to reforming our healthcare system to provide quality, affordable healthcare for all.

In the article, Henry talks about the stress that's being put on healthcare workers as they're forced to accept pay-cuts and work multiple jobs, specifically citing home-care workers in California taking a 10% pay cut due to budget cuts.

The SEIU represents home-care workers in 14 states, and Henry is strategizing to organize those in more states. She says professionalizing home care is especially important as waves of millions of baby boomers age and want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. "A lot of home-care workers are ghetto-ized into housework," she says. [...] And she sees healthcare as a ladder out of poverty. "A lot of our members, because of the low wages, need to work multiple jobs," Henry says. "Home care could migrate them through the continuum of care, with proper training."

"We're on the cliff of very fundamental reform in our healthcare system," Henry told Modern Healthcare. "Our members want a seat at the table." She spends much of her time visiting members to give them a voice, both on the job and also as part of the debate over reforming the healthcare system.

More than 800 healthcare workers at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, the largest medical center in the Caritas Christi Health Care chain, voted last Thursday to unite together with thousands of healthcare workers in 1199SEIU.

"This is a time of great challenges and unprecedented opportunities," said 1199SEIU President George Gresham. "Now that St. Elizabeth's workers have a union voice, we can all work together to defend healthcare funding, expand access, and make life better for the caregivers at St Elizabeth's and their families."

Over the past 35 years, workers have attempted to form a union at St. Elizabeth's at least three different times, to no avail. Under new leadership, Caritas Christi Health Care reached an historic accord in January 2009 with 1199SEIU and the Area Trades Council, which established a code of conduct under which workers would be free to make their own decisions on whether to join together as a union under fair secret ballot voting conditions.

"We are overjoyed and thrilled. People were crying with joy in the halls Wednesday night," said St. Elizabeth's PCA Sonia Marshall, "We believe in the mission of St. Elizabeth's, and we're excited about working together to make our hospital the best that it can be for our patients and also for hospital workers and our families. We look forward to the day when all of our sisters and brothers across Boston are able to have free and fair union elections." Workers at St. Elizabeth's have pledged to help organize healthcare workers at other Massachusetts hospitals, including other Caritas Christi facilities, where union election campaigns are expected to launch in the near future.

Read more at www.StElizabethsWorkersTogether.org

More than 800 healthcare workers at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, the largest medical center in the Caritas Christi Health Care chain, voted last Thursday to unite together with thousands of healthcare workers in 1199SEIU.

"This is a time of great challenges and unprecedented opportunities," said 1199SEIU President George Gresham. "Now that St. Elizabeth's workers have a union voice, we can all work together to defend healthcare funding, expand access, and make life better for the caregivers at St Elizabeth's and their families."

Over the past 35 years, workers have attempted to form a union at St. Elizabeth's at least three different times, to no avail. Under new leadership, Caritas Christi Health Care reached an historic accord in January 2009 with 1199SEIU and the Area Trades Council, which established a code of conduct under which workers would be free to make their own decisions on whether to join together as a union under fair secret ballot voting conditions.

"We are overjoyed and thrilled. People were crying with joy in the halls Wednesday night," said St. Elizabeth's PCA Sonia Marshall, "We believe in the mission of St. Elizabeth's, and we're excited about working together to make our hospital the best that it can be for our patients and also for hospital workers and our families. We look forward to the day when all of our sisters and brothers across Boston are able to have free and fair union elections." Workers at St. Elizabeth's have pledged to help organize healthcare workers at other Massachusetts hospitals, including other Caritas Christi facilities, where union election campaigns are expected to launch in the near future.

Read more at www.StElizabethsWorkersTogether.org