Press Releases

U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) today joined nurses from the Regional Hospital of Scranton as they called on their managers and administrators at Community Health Systems to work together with their frontline caregivers during National Nurses Week (May 6-12) to keep themselves, those they care for and their entire communities safe.

During the video press conference, the nurses discussed their experiences treating COVID-19 patients, and steps they hope to take with management that will help protect staff and patients in their hospitals. In addition, a nurse from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre offered her account of the relationship between staff and administrators at that facility.

Watch a recording of the press conference here. Access password: 8K=1c5O5

“As we observe National Nurses Week in this unprecedented moment, what all lawmakers, as well as hospital managers and administrators should do to honor them is actively listen to their concerns, respond, and invest in their health and safety so they can continue to do their important work without fear of infecting themselves, their loved ones, or even non-COVID patients in the hospitals where they serve,” Cartwright said.

Cartwright added that he will continue trying to advance his bill to provide hazard pay to high-risk health care workers and other essential workers; discussed a letter he sent today urging the Pennsylvania Department of Health to ensure hospital workers in the Commonwealth have access to no less than one N95 grade mask per day; and called for more transparency from all health providers regarding how they are allocating their resources — including any federal government aid they have received.

“It is important that they prioritize support for their health care workers – for PPE, salaries and benefits, and retraining programs to keep the staff fighting at full force, and so no one who wants to work is laid off or furloughed,” Cartwright continued.

Community Health Systems has received $245 million in support authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and $1.2 billion in accelerated Medicare payments.

Lindsey Wilson, a Registered Nurse on the COVID floor at Regional Hospital of Scranton, spoke of heavy demands on a short-staffed nurse workforce.

“We’re taking care of five, sometimes six patients at a time. It’s not the greatest care for the patients when they’re waiting to be changed or if they have to wait to be fed. Everything takes so much time and it’s mentally and physically exhausting,” Wilson said.

Danielle Topa, a radiology secretary, told her story of being laid off by CHS for the second time in nine months after 22 years of service.

“I can take another job here at the hospital, through language in my contract, but I don’t want to put someone else out of a job,” Topa said. “I love my coworkers here at the hospital… if they offered for me to come back, I would. I have to provide for my children. How could they let people go when they have so many patients here, and when they’re getting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money, which is my money?”

Ruth Visintainer, a critical care Registered Nurse at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, discussed how nurses and management at that facility are working together.

“We’re meeting with our administration on a daily basis, Monday through Friday,” Visintainer said. “Our collaboration has been able to help things a lot and make things better as time has gone on. As everything was starting it was a work in progress – it continues to be a work in progress, but things are much smoother now than they had been.”