Putnam Hospital Lays Off Nurses As Pandemic Winds Down

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — Putnam Hospital is laying off 11 nurses.

The news angered officials at the New York State Nurses Association, who pointed out that those laid off include a 30-year veteran of the hospital and seven nurses who had moved out of their specialty areas during the coronavirus surges to save lives.

"As the pandemic begins to wind down, we continue to experience diminished patient volumes in healthcare," said Putnam Hospital President Dr. Mark Hirko in a statement sent to Patch. "In order to ensure our organization’s future success and continued mission, regrettably, we have no other recourse but to implement position reductions in some departments. The decision to do this is difficult, but we will always look to offer affected employees placement within the Nuvance Health system as best we can accommodate. As always, we strive to minimize any impact and quality on patient bedside care."

Union leaders said Putnam County’s only hospital is regularly understaffed in some units, and alleged that puts patient safety at risk.

They cited recent 2021 reports into their NYSNA text reporting system. Nurses in Putnam’s Intensive Care Unit texted in staffing reports 56 times, and 36 times reported unsafe staffing, where the nurses had more than two patients at a time — nearly 70 percent of reported times, they said.

In a Medical-Surgical unit, where NYSNA’s safe staffing legislation requires 1 nurse care for a maximum of 4 patients at a time, nurses made 54 staffing reports, and indicated unsafe staffing levels with ratios greater than 1 to 4, 45 times — more than 83 percent of the time, they said.

"I’ve always loved coming to work, but the layoffs and the stress of the pandemic have left nurses, including me, physically and mentally taxed,” Maura Rooney, RN, local bargaining unit vice president at Putnam Hospital, said in a news release. “We hoped that once the COVID surge was over, our staffing levels would go back to normal, but the administration is still keeping the hospital short-staffed. Nurses want to provide the best quality care possible, but with short staffing and now the layoffs, it has been a challenge.”

Part of the Nuvance Health System, Putnam was awarded millions of federal pandemic stimulus dollars. According to the COVID Stimulus Watch database, Putnam received $21.5 million and all Nuvance facilities in New York and Connecticut received a total of $247 million.

Union officials said they could not find out how that money was spent. But, they said, recently Putnam hospital administrators have been replaced with new managers from corporate headquarters, which has also hired efficiency consultants.

“During the COVID surges, surgical services nurses went above and beyond and helped in every way that we could,” said Jeannie Carey, RN. "You can’t imagine how emotional it’s been to be treated like just a number and to see some of my best colleagues targeted for layoffs.

"I understand the hospital is a business, but we still have to take care of patients — and that should be the priority," she said. "Rumors are flying about further cuts to healthcare services and to the frontline nursing staff. How can we possibly provide the care our community deserves?"