Hospital Workers Call for Expanded DC Patient Protection Act
Monday, March 17, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)“Patient care is a
team effort,” SEIU 722 president
Dan Fields says. In addition to doctors and nurses, there are patient care
techs
who monitor vitals, phlebotomists who draw blood, transporters, environmental
service workers, and respiratory service workers. Many of these “ancillary”
workers are concerned about the possible effects of the proposed Patient
Protection Act (PPA), now pending before the DC City Council, which would
mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. “We’d be happy to support a bill
that
protects assistive service workers,” says Fields, whose local represents such
workers at the Washington Hospital Center and Children’s National Medical
Center. "We are
willing to work with
all involved to ensure that the residents of the District of Columbia receive
ultimate patient care and that all hospital workers are protected from
understaffing, over working, and have job security." After all, Fields
adds, "We all want
the same thing, which is the best possible care for our patients."
photo courtesy SEIU 722
website.