VA nurses protest across the country

By Rachel Berger and Lucy Diavolo

National Nurse Magazine - July | Aug | Sept 2022 Issue

Veterans Health Administration (VA) nurses held protests in August and September to highlight their patient safety concerns, including dangerous and chronic short staffing. The nurses also demand that VA leadership address retention and recruitment problems. Additionally, the VA nurses called on Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough to encourage Congress to pass the VA Employee Fairness Act, which would grant RNs full bargaining rights so that they can improve care at the VA.

In early August, RNs at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Buffalo, N.Y. held a protest to highlight their patient safety concerns, including short-staffing and nurses working as many as 20 hours straight. Later that month, nurses at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center and veterans held a rally to demand the VA regional leadership urge the Veterans Affairs secretary to sign the long-stalled nurses’ contract, address chronic short-staffing issues, and allow for more flexibility in scheduling.

“As nurses, we pride ourselves in taking care of our patients, but we can’t provide the care they need and deserve when we’re short-staffed,” said Nicole White, RN, an NNU leader at Buffalo’s VAMC. “There is a dire need for management to address this to improve patient care, decrease nurse fatigue, and improve nurse recruitment and retention at our facility. Lengthy shifts aren’t a long-term solution.”

“We must bolster our ranks by improving our working conditions, finalizing our contract, and allowing schedule flexibility in order to recruit and retain experienced nurses,” said Ann Marie Carlin, an RN at the Brooklyn VA, a retired Navy captain who served in the military for nearly 38 years, and a member of NNU.

On Sept. 1, VA nurses took to the streets at the Atlanta VA Medical Center (ATL-VAMC) in Atlanta, Ga., the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center (CNVAMC) in Augusta, and the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center (TVAMC) in Alabama to demand VA regional directors address long-standing patient care concerns. Six days later, RNs at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center picketed in Cincinnati, Ohio for patient safety.
 
“Experienced nurses are leaving the Atlanta VA in record numbers because they are deeply concerned that the regional leadership is not making the necessary changes to provide the veterans the highest quality of care by not effectively addressing the staffing issues,” said Candice Oduyela, RN at the ATL-VAMC.

“We demand that our regional leadership in VISN 7 show nurses that they are as committed to the veterans by addressing the chronic short-staffing and recruitment and retention problems and demanding that the secretary of Veterans Affairs sign our contract that was hammered out years ago,” said Irma Westmoreland, RN at CNVAMC and vice president of NNU.

“We know that if we have better working conditions, including better staffing and flexible schedules, we will be better able to recruit and retain experienced nurses to care for our veterans,” said Jennifer Giles, a nurse practitioner in the mental health unit at TVAMC. “Flexible scheduling will prevent more nurses from leaving and make our facility more competitive in attracting experienced nurses.”

Rachel Berger and Lucy Diavolo are communications specialists at National Nurses United.