Kingsbridge Heights Community Speaks Out In Support Of Caregivers At Town Hall Meeting

On March 20, concerned elected officials in the Bronx listened to the voices of many people who have been affected by the unfair labor practices strike forced by Kingsbridge Heights Nursing Home owner Helen Sieger.

 

At the Fort Independence Housing Authority Houses Community Room, a coalition of the nursing home patients’ families, community organizations and neighborhood residents joined with 1199SEIU members to discuss concerns about patient care, respect and dignity for healthcare workers and quality of life in the community. Federal, state and local officials listened and recorded the facts.

 

The fact-finding panel of elected officials, led by NYS Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz included his Assembly colleagues Ruben Diaz, Jr., Naomi Rivera and Jose Rivera, New York City Councilmembers Oliver Koppel and Joel Rivera, and a representative from Congressman Eliot Engel’s office.

 

Many workers said that after Sieger’s blatant disregard for everyone involved, it was uplifting to know that the strikers and their neighbors were being heard, after more than a month on the picket line.   Dinowitz, Diaz, and Rivera said that they were organizing the entire delegation of Bronx officials and will be appealing to the city and state governments to investigate the nursing home and resolve the strike.

 

“We are a community in distress,” said Phil McDonnell, President of the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association. “We are proud of our neighborhood, the place we call home, and we are proud to have the 1199 SEIU nursing home caregivers as our neighbors. We can’t allow one nursing home owner to put all of us--workers, patients and community residents alike, in turmoil. We want to come together, gather information and frame a solution.”

 

Many audience members said that they were outraged that Helen Sieger cut caregiver health benefits. They said it was “heartless and wrong” for healthcare workers to be without health care for their families and themselves and that they were sorry that she forced a strike.

 

Resident family members also spoke at the meeting, with sadness. They said that they and their loved ones missed the 1199SEIU workers at the nursing home. They were concerned that meals were not being served on time, that some hygiene practices were slipping and that the patients were generally not getting the attention they need.

 

Some families discussed taking their loved ones out of the nursing home. 1199SEIU social workers and registered nurses are helping these families in transition.