Authorizing the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings on the role of certified nursing assistants in providing quality healthcare.

WHEREAS, Dozens of nursing assistants and other employees recently protested outside Hahnemann Hospital in Center City. The Hospital is implementing a plan which will only include Registered Nurses. This means 127 Certified Nursing Assistants could lose their jobs; and

WHEREAS, There are currently 600 registered nurses at the Hospital. The new plan will include the hiring of around 60 more; and

WHEREAS, Hahnemann began piloting the all-RN patient care model back in March of 2011 on a 50-bed unit. They then extended the model to an additional unit last August after claiming the results were successful; and

WHEREAS, The new model will mean the elimination of the certified nursing assistant positions over time; and

WHEREAS, The union that represents 75 CNAs who likely will lose their jobs is mobilizing to fight the change. The CNAs, whose contract with Hahnemann expires in July; and

WHEREAS, Henry Nicholas, president of District 1199C of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) said that when nursing assistants are gone, patients will have to wait longer for a bedpan or help with dinner; and

WHEREAS, Nicholas called the decision to stop using CNAs "union busting" and said the hospital has a responsibility to employees who have served it well, often for decades; now therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Committee on Public Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to hold hearings on the role of certified nursing assistants in providing quality healthcare.

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