Nurses Association wary about merger

The New York State Nurses Association, which represents 260 registered nurses at Benedictine Hospital, says as the HealthAlliance considers closing Kingston Hospital and folding all services into Benedictine, it should consider the effect on the community. Hudson Valley Correspondent Hank Gross reports…

The Nurses Association claims HealthAlliance’s current problems are “the result of several poor management decisions,” said spokesman Mark Genovese.

“This is the price, unfortunately, that the community has to pay because now we are without a valuable resource in the community,” Genovese said on Tuesday. “Anytime that you cut down the healthcare facilities that are available in your community, anytime you downscale you are taking away care.”

The Nurses’ Association said that poor management includes “the millions that are now considered wasted making improvements to the Kingston facility, failure to step in and stop the deliberation prolonging of contract negotiations with nurses, wasteful spending on legal fees, and the inefficient way that Nistel and the Foxhall Ambulatory Surgery Center were run.”