1199SEIU represents more than 700 workers at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. At various sites across Vassar’s system, 1199SEIU workers serve the community in a multitude of capacities, including housekeeping, nutrition, radiology and pharmacy. Our Life And Times visited with some Vassar members who care for patients when they’re most vulnerable. They work in the hospital’s Level 2 Emergency Department/Trauma Center and in its Surgery and Interventional Radiology Departments. 1199ers play critical roles in these areas. They provide a broad spectrum of patient care, from bandaging minor injuries to participating in lifesaving cardiac surgery.
1. Certified OR technologists Eddie Cuevas, Bibi Yasin, Allison Harris and Jorge Molina in one of Vassar’s operating rooms. All of these technologists assist in robotic surgery. “Since they’ve been using the laparoscope, cases are quicker and patient recovery is faster,” says Harris. “Some cases come with a bit of a longer learning curve, but that’s to patients’ benefit. Newer students are being trained on them in tech programs now that robots are being more widely used.”
2. Seth Hansen-Hall has been an ED tech at Vassar for 16 years. “Every day is a new experience. You can never anticipate what’s going to happen. The ER experience is one that dwells in the moment,” he says. “I try to keep an open mind so I can approach situations in the most appropriate manner.”
3. “I worked in nephrology for a while but I wanted to come down here,” says Liana Hernandez, an ER tech at Vassar for five years. “I like the diversity of the patients. It’s busy and you never know what’s coming, which I really like a lot. And it’s not only the patients we help, but we also help the families. We help them through the hard times.”
4. Allison Harris has been an OR tech at Vassar for 17 years.
5. ED unit secretary Alvin Matthew is a multitasker. “We definitely have to maintain all aspects of the department,” he says. “We get a lot of requests from everyone at the same time and you have to be able to have a lot of things going in your mind at once.
6. Tamoya Norwood has been an ED technician at Vassar for 12 years. “It’s a very busy day. We deal with cardiac arrests, do vitals for patients, do once overs for the nurses. We’re like the eyes for the nurses. We put patients in their comfort zones,” she says. “I like giving the kind of care I’d give my mother.”
7. Cardiovascular technologist Ron Breau is among the members who assist with the TAVR procedure, a minimally invasive heart valve replacement surgery reserved for patients too weak for open heart surgery. “TAVR involves a much larger team than we use on a regular basis. We go from a three-person team to a 15-person team, so it can be nerve-wracking to have so many people on a team at one time,” he says. “But for these patients there is often no alternative.”