WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1122 is currently in new contract negotiations with the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA), which serves home-bound patients across 10 area counties.  WNYLaborToday.com is focusing a Labor Spotlight on this group of Health Caregivers, who don’t necessarily and immediately come to mind when it comes to administering a variety of health care services across Western New York.

(WESTERN NEW YORK) – When one thinks about a Union-represented Caregiver here in Western New York, it’s a sure bet the first thing that comes to mind are Nurses working in the area’s many hospitals and those Health Care Providers employed at a variety of nursing homes.

Unfortunately, little thought is given to those Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1122-represented Essential Workers who are employed by the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA), many of whom perform a variety of tasks that are extremely beneficial to their patients who live in the region’s many cities, towns and rural communities.

But during some exploratory reporting, WNYLaborToday.com learned that those who are employed at the VNA are some very special people, including some that many would not even begin to think about when it comes to focusing in on Western New York’s Caregivers.

Case in point - Clerical Department Employee Clarisse Chambless, an Insurance Specialist who’s worked at the VNA since 1998.

A self-described “behind-the-scenes” Caregiver, Chambless plays an extremely important role in helping VNA patients: She is their Health Care Advocate when it comes to dealing with insurance companies on their behalf.

While her job can admittedly be “frustrating” at times, she says, her mission is to “squeeze” as much as she can for her patients in terms of achieving a “higher level of health care and benefits.”

“I’m an ‘insurance people popper,’” she laughs.  “I ‘want to keep (patients) out of the hospital, which saves insurance companies money.’  I ‘fight to get them everything they need, which is super-important because in the end, you want them to be compensated.’”

When asked how she feels about being that “behind-the-scenes” Caregiver who many just don’t realize are out there doing their jobs, Chambless answered: “The ‘most important thing people need to know is that this is not just a job.’  ‘A lot of (Caregivers) are doing a number of things for their patients on their own personal time because they care about people and each other.’”

Karen Terry, a Registered Nurse at the VNA who started her career back in 1997, echoes Chambless: “Our ‘whole mission is keep our patients out of the hospital.’”

“Our people, some who work in rehab, the Therapists, the Social Workers, the Nurses who are administering wound care, ‘pick up the ball when someone is ill.’  ‘It’s important that we are out there, every day, to provide (our patients) with a better quality of life, no matter if we have to get there in the pouring rain or in a blizzard.’  ‘We care because (our patients) need us no matter what is going on,’” Terry told WNYLaborToday.com.

Right now, CWA Local 1122 is in negotiations with the VNA on a new contract.

The previous three-year contract actually expired on March 31s, 2020 - running out during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For obvious reasons, it was agreed to be extended during that time frame.

Local 1122 represents 550 Members who are employed at the VNA - from Nurses to Social Workers to Clerical Staff to Admissions, to name just a few, who administer to patients in 10 Counites across Western New York (Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming, Genesee, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Allegany, as well as a couple outside the area: Livingston and Steuben).

From city to town to rural communities, VNA Caregivers are out on the road, traveling to administer to and serve their patients, no matter what weather they encounter or how many miles it takes them to get there.

“They drive, ‘from home to home - and, yes - they have to deal with the roads too,’” Local 1122 President Tom Antonio tells WNYLaborToday.com of his Home Health Care Members.  “While our job is to ‘prevent re-hospitalization, people still need the VNA’s service because hospitals are not going to keep you there for any extended period of time for care.’”

And it’s just not the home of patients VNA Caregivers head to, according to VNA Physical Therapist Dan Lukasiewicz, who’s also on the CWA Bargaining Team. 

“It could be a doctor’s referral to treat a wound,” he said.  “We also go to Assisted Living Centers because their Staff ‘can’t take care of wounds.’  ‘We cover so much.’”

But according to Antonio, VNA Staff is “most appreciated” serving Buffalo’s “toughest communities.”

“Those are ‘our’ people,” adds Tori Henley (Pictured Below With Lukasiewicz/WNYLaborToday.com Photo), a Licensed Practical Nurse and CWA Mobilizer. “‘And they become our family members.’  There’s a ‘deeper connection’ with our patients who live in those communities because we are there to help - ‘no matter if it’s Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, dementia, diabetes, administering chemo (to those battling cancer) - patients have be assessed (and administered to).’”

And, again, no level of inclement weather stops VNAers from doing their jobs.

“When we had that ‘horrible’ snowstorm back in December (2022), our Members ‘got through three-foot-deep’ side streets.  ‘Some had to walk a quarter-mile to get to homes’ (whose streets were impassable),” Henley said (Pictured Below, CWAer Kelly Wlodarczyk Helping A Fellow VNA Clinician Whose Car Was Stuck In The Snow/CWA Local 1122 Provided Photo).

“And ‘in some instances, we have to deal with pets, bed bugs, irate family members - there are a lot of challenges,’” Lukasiewicz added.

Antonio, as is Lukasiewicz and Henley, are “proud of” CWA Local 22’s Members who are employed at the VNA: “‘I have a unique perspective on the jobs they do because my wife is a Hospital Nurse.’  ‘I know what they are walking into.’  ‘I get it, but I don’t know how they do it.’”

Negotiations on a new contract at the VNA started a few weeks ago, according to the CWA - and while wages and benefits are important, Antonio says “economics ‘are not necessarily at the top’” of the agenda: “Our Members, ‘I believe, also want a quality of life.’  ‘They want their caseloads reduced.’  Our Registered Nurses ‘are making six to seven visits a day - we need a better staffing ratio.’”

Lukasiewicz says the CWA-represented Caregivers also “‘have to have the authority to make decisions’” on site during visits in order to make health care “calls in the field,” but must also have the time - during the workday, to complete the necessary patient documentation and paperwork.

“‘Many are working through their lunches and some are completing their paperwork at home - after work,’” he noted.

Henley says one of the goals the CWA wants to achieve in their new contract is to “improve” staffing, as well as to have their Members “recognized for the uniqueness of what they do.”  (Pictured Below - On Two Separate Occasions, CWA-Represented VNAers Rally Before Contract Negotiations/CWA Local 1122 Provided Photos)

A recent Membership Survey at the VNA showed CWAers want better wages, increased safety measures on the job, a quality/work-life balance and safe staffing, Lukasiewicz added.

“‘One-hundred-percent, it’s about stress,”’ he said.

WNYLaborToday.com asked the two VNA/CWAers who were interviewed for this Labor News Story what they would like the VNA to remember during contract negotiations:

“We are (the VNA’s) ‘bread and butter,’” Registered Nurse Terry answered.  “‘Without the CWA, they don’t have a business.’”

“‘I want the VNA to know that I want the VNA to succeed, because it matters to me,’” Chambless said.  “We are ‘not in competition with them.’  ‘We are fully - one team.’  ‘We want our people to be safe when they go into a (patient’s) home and go home safe to their families at the end of the day.’  ‘But we also want to be paid fairly.’  ‘It’s not a good look for any company to paying slave labor’ wages.  ‘Our people here are committed and we are invested’ (in the services the VNA provides.”

Hopefully the VNA will listen - and remember.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: For More, Go To: The Visiting Nursing Association Reaches A One-Year Contract Extension With Its 640 Workers Who Are Represented By CWA Local 1122 - WNY Labor Today: Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, Bringing You Labor News From Across The Nation, New York State & Western New York