A Bronx Hospital Is Investing in Its Nurses

New York Times

14-05-2025

Good morning. It's Wednesday. Today we'll look at what a safety net hospital in the Bronx plans to do with a $5 million grant. We'll also get details on a judge's decision to put an outside official in charge of the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
St. Barnabas Hospital plans to spend $5 million on a program for its nurses.
'Just because we treat poor people doesn't mean we shouldn't have the best possible staff,' said Dr. David Perlstein, the president and chief executive of St. Barnabas, a 422-bed hospital in the Bronx.
The money is from $51 million in grants from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, which was formed several years ago after the sale of Fidelis Care, a managed care company that had been set up by the Roman Catholic Church.
The foundation wanted to address the severe nursing shortage that existed before the pandemic and that was compounded when emergency rooms were overflowing with coronavirus patients, particularly at so-called safety net hospitals like St. Barnabas that typically have large numbers of patients who are on Medicaid or are uninsured.
The foundation targeted its grants to hard-pressed hospitals that wanted to apply for nursing accreditation programs. It said that St. Barnabas and 12 other institutions, including Calvary Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, both in the Bronx, would use grant money for programs overseen by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
'There are no safety nets doing these programs because they're expensive programs,' Perlstein said. 'We can't compete' with larger hospitals that are affiliated with medical schools 'and have the funding to cover programs that should be offered everywhere,' he said.
The hospitals receiving grants will have to undergo a rigorous review by the credentialing center, an independent body, to be certified. 'We believe there's a lot of value in the pursuit of accreditation,' said Anupa Fabian, Mother Cabrini's chief research officer. That 'will help hospitals put structures in place that lead to significant improvements in nurse well-being' — and, ultimately, patient care.
Rebecca Graystone, a senior vice president of the credentialing center, said the grants from Mother Cabrini were the most by a private foundation for safety net organizations in the United States. 'The $51 million, we believe, has the ability to absolutely transform care delivery,' she said. 'If you don't have nurses in a hospital whose well-being is taken care of, whose work environment is appropriate, hospitals don't run. Whatever brings the patient to the front door of an institution, it's the nursing staff that gets them admitted.'
Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, the chief executive of the foundation, put it more simply: 'You can't have health care without nurses.' Still, he called the grants 'a drop in the bucket,' adding that they 'will not in any way solve the problem.'
Other foundation officials said that stress and burnout had contributed to the nursing shortage. They cited a statewide study by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Albany, which found that just under half of nurses surveyed reported symptoms of burnout in 2023. The center also found that retirements were not the only factor in staff shortages. Younger nurses were moving on as well: About 15 percent of hospital nurses between 20 and 39 planned to leave their current jobs within 12 months.
Perlstein said the accreditation program at St. Barnabas would involve 'shared governance and engagement' with nurses. The program will also provide more possibilities for career development for nurses 'who want to be something more or something else,' he said.
Nadine Williamson, a senior vice president of 1199 SEIU, the union that represents nurses at St. Barnabas, called the grant 'amazing' and 'historic.' Noting that nurses there are among the lowest paid in the city, she added that the accreditation program should help with recruiting and retaining nurses.
'If the nurses feel good, they're going to give quality health care,' she said, 'and the morale of the nurses lifts up the entire team.'
Expect a rainy day with the possibility of thunderstorms. The temperature will hover in the low to mid-60s, day and evening, as the downpours continue.
In effect until May 26 (Memorial Day).
The latest Metro news
An outside official will take charge of Rikers, a judge orders
A federal judge seized control on Tuesday of the Rikers Island jails, which have been rife with violence and dysfunction.
The judge, Laura Taylor Swain, ordered the appointment of an outside official 'empowered to take all actions necessary' to turn Rikers around. Shunning Mayor Eric Adams's efforts to retain control of the lockups, she said the new remediation manager would not be a city employee and would report directly to her.
The city had managed to hold onto control of Rikers, struggling to show progress, as critics of the system called for a receiver to be put in charge. Conditions have not improved, according to lawyers in a class-action lawsuit and the federal monitor who has issued reports on conditions at Rikers regularly for nearly a decade. In November, the judge found the city in contempt for failing to stem violence and excessive force at the jail.
Judge Swain's ruling was another blow for Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent after dropping out of the crowded Democratic field. He was indicted on federal corruption charges last year. But a judge dismissed the charges last month after the Justice Department said that going ahead with the case would keep the mayor from making good on his promise to cooperate with President Trump's crackdown on immigration.
The Legal Aid Society and a private law firm representing people incarcerated at Rikers had asked Judge Swain to take away the city's control of Rikers and to install a receiver who would answer only to her. They said the receiver should have broad authority that would extend to staffing and the union contracts that drive it.
The remediation manager will have 'broad powers' similar to those that the receiver sought by the plaintiffs would have had, the judge said.
The city wanted the Correction Department commissioner, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, to take on another title as 'compliance director' and to answer to the court on issues like safety and staffing shortages while answering to Adams on everything else.
A New York Times investigation in 2021 found that guards were often stationed in inefficient ways that failed to protect detainees. In addition, an unlimited sick leave policy meant that the staff was often short-handed.
Adams said on Tuesday that the 'problems at Rikers are decades in the making.' He blamed a law requiring Rikers to be shut down by 2027 for preventing upgrades to the complex. The city is not expected to meet that deadline.
Sunshine Boy
Dear Diary:
It was spring 1975. I was 23 and had been in New York for less than six months. I was working as a secretary at Artkraft Strauss, and 'The Sunshine Boys' was filming around the corner.
During one lunch hour, Walter Matthau appeared in a shabby overcoat. Gathering all of my courage, I asked him for an autograph.
Almost smiling, he asked my name.
I panicked. Should I ask for two autographs? Would that be too much? I decided not to risk it.
'Oh, it's not for me,' I said. 'It's for my mother, Ruth.'
Giving his best scowl, he scribbled a line and stomped off.
My mother still had that autograph when she died 13 years ago. I have it now.
— Amanda Sherwin
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
Stefano Montali and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [e-mail].
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