With Contract Expired and Hospital Management Proposing Outrageous and Unsafe Staffing Standards, NYSNA Nurses at Northwell/ Putnam Hospital Speak Out
Approximately 200 nurses at Northwell/ Putnam Hospital are fighting for a fair contract that delivers safe staffing for quality patient care. Safe staffing is a priority for Putnam nurses, and nurses often work short-staffed. For example, in December 2025, nurses in the hospital’s two medical surgical units started their shift understaffed nearly half the time.
The hospital is fighting against having enforceable safe staffing standards in the contract and proposing to make standards even less safe in state law. In a staffing committee meeting on June 11, hospital executives proposed making the nurse staffing in their state staffing plan, enforceable by the New York State Department of Health, less safe. They proposed an outrageous and unsafe 1-nurse-to-8-patients safe staffing standard in medical/surgical units. The widely recognized safe staffing standard in med/surg units is 1:5. Putnam’s current standard is 1:6. Most hospitals in New York state set their standards at 1:5 or 1:6.
Nicole Cadella, RN, president of the NYSNA local bargaining unit at Northwell/ Putnam Hospital, said: “I live in this community, and my parents and I have been patients at Putnam. I want this hospital to be the best it can be, but it can’t be the best if it is understaffed. On our main hospital floors—the medical/surgical units—nurses sometimes have 8 patients each, when the safe standard is 5 or 6. I just imagine my father in that hospital bed.”
Melissa Hendrickson, RN, works in the medical/surgical units and has seen understaffing firsthand. “In the last few months, our patient census has been high, and we haven’t had enough nurses to safely staff our patients. If 1 or 2 nurses call out, it becomes a crisis.” She continued, “Staffing on day shift is even worse. Sometimes they are staying 2 hours late just to catch up on their work.”
Bernadette Muller, RN, and ICU nurse at Putnam said: “After months of bargaining, hospital management still refuses to include safe staffing in our contract. Refusing to include this in our contract is unacceptable. This is a way for hospital management and Northwell corporate to avoid accountability. We have staffing models posted on each unit, we would like these included in our contract.”
Nurses believe that Northwell Health, the largest private employer in the state and one of the wealthiest healthcare systems, can well afford to safely staff Putnam Hospital—and put it in writing. Northwell’s resistance to basic safety standards is raising concerns among nurses about what other changes Northwell may make now that they have taken over the small community hospital.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “Northwell should be ashamed that after acquiring a small community hospital –and the only hospital in Putnam Country—they are now trying to lower safety standards for nurses and patients. We know they have the resources to staff safely and deliver the quality care this community deserves.”
The nurses’ contract expired on Dec. 31, 2025. Nurses have been negotiating and taking action for a fair contract.
The New York State Nurses Association represents approximately 45,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country’s largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.
