(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – It seems these days that the only time you hear about Registered Nurses in the news is when they are standing up for themselves during a contract fight at a local hospital or battling for measures that make their workplaces safer so they can take care of the needs of the patients that they are also standing up for.

That’s why it is such a pleasure to learn what some of those Caregivers are doing during their off-season (when not in contract preparations or negotiations) in order to make the communities where they work, live and raise their families - better.

Case in point, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Essential Caregivers who are employed at Buffalo’s Erie County Medical Center (ECMC).

From actively moving forward on securing Paid Family Leave for their Members employed at ECMC to being involved in building a Habitat for Humanity home to raising money for supplies for elementary school students to helping out a Neo-Natal Unit at Buffalo’s John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital to moving their Political Action Committee forward and interviewing candidates for Buffalo Mayor - NYSNA Members are gladly involved and giving back.

“It’s ‘extremely important,’” NYSNA Western New York Regional Director John Batson tells WNYLaborToday.com while discussing his Union and Membership’s “dedication” to the Buffalo and Western New York Community. “It ‘doesn’t end at the bedside. ‘We are Nurses who are out there, seeking opportunities (to help).’ ‘We wish to do good because it’s common decency to invest that kind of time and energy.’”

Said NYSNA Co-Chair Lona DeNisco: “We ‘just don’t live in a hospital setting.’ We ‘step outside it.’ ‘We care beyond’ our paychecks. ‘That’s why you see us’ in the community. ‘We’re leading by example.’”

Added NYSNA Vice Co-Chair Crystal Knihinicki: “It’s ‘important’ for our Union (to be involved in the community), ‘to go out and give back.’ It’s a ‘positive’ experience ‘and we can help make it a better place.’”

Batson, along with DeNisco and Knihinicki, recently took time to run through just some of the community initiatives their Union and Members are involved in with WNYLaborToday.com:

Habitat For Humanity - A contingent of NYSNA Nurses worked on constructing a home in nearby Lackawanna as part of a Habitat For Humanity project in 2024. “They (the Nurses) ‘were as graceful with a nail gun as they are with a syringe,’” Batson said. “We’re ‘leading by example,’” said DeNisco, who got her 16-year-old son, Logan, (at the time) involved in helping. “This was ‘doing something for people who don’t have anything.’” Added Batson: “We ‘gave sweat equity and it was important to do something for someone we didn’t know.’”

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, from left to right: Crystal Knihinicki; Taneca Smith; Victoria Daniels; John Batson; and Logan DeNisco (above Batson).  (Photo Provided By John Batson)

International School #85 - NYSNA Members came together to donate “boxes and boxes” of school supplies to the Buffalo Public School it had adopted - from crayons to blank paper to art supplies, for 10 classrooms - supplies that would last an entire year. “They were ‘struggling and lacked the basis for the kids.’ A lot of what was donated ‘came from out-of-pocket donations by our Members - every one of which at ECMC made a donation,’” Batson said.

Kali Kares Neo Natal Unit at Oishei’s Children’s Hospital - Championed by NYSNA Executive Board Member and Registered Nurse Taneca Smith after Member Denisa Smith “did some digging,” NYSNA made donations to the Neo Natal Unit for premature babies at the Downtown Buffalo Medical Facility - ranging from blankets to hygiene products, to help new mothers “get through it,” the NYSNA Reps said.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, from left to right: Bridget Henry; Giovanna DiGesare; Kate Panicalli; Crystal Knihinicki; and John Batson. Pictured in front, Lynn Fletcher - founder of this organization and a Registered Nurse at ECMC.  (Photo Provided By Lona DeNisco)

Overall, Knihinicki said: “It’s ‘important for our Union to go out and give back.’ It’s such a ‘positive’ experience. We’re ‘doing something important.’ We have ‘good jobs that we don’t take for granted, we just want to help to make our community a better place.’”

On yet another front, NYSNA is currently involved in conducting interviews for those candidates who are running for Mayor of the City of Buffalo, which will eventually result in their Union’s endorsement.

However, the questions being asked by the NYSNA Political Action Committee are not just political.

That’s because, DeNisco said, ECMC is located in an impoverished area of the City where NYSNA Members are also involved - and they want to know where the candidates stand when it comes to such things as public health, housing and providing fresh produce opportunities in what many have described as a food desert.

“‘Yes, we are going rogue and asking off-script questions,’” DeNisco told WNYLaborToday.com. “Public health ‘does not stop at the hospital.’  People ‘need adequate’ housing, ‘fresh’ food. ‘Some cannot afford’ (to pay for) their medication. ‘We need to enforce’ safe staffing (within hospitals) ‘to accomplish our goal of better’ patient care.  So, ‘we have to hold (candidates’) feet to the fire and we will (as a Union) be going door-knocking (on voters’ front doors) too.’”

Inside ECMC, NYSNA is getting ready for its Membership to vote on a Paid Family Leave Program that’s been reached through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with hospital administration.

The Union decided to work towards making Paid Family Leave a reality after securing their current contract, which was ratified in 2023 and expires in 2027. 

“It’s ‘moving in our direction,’” said Batson, who noted that if approved by Membership, ECMC would become only the second public hospital in all of New York State (the other being NYC Health+Hospitals) to have a Paid Family Leave Program in place for its Employees.

Nine-hundred out of the 1,200 NYNSA Members employed at ECMC had initially penned their names on a signature page in approval of the program, Batson said.

Members would pay $7 a pay period toward the plan, which would be administered by a third party, “which provides us with a better umbrella” in terms of not having the employer administer the program, the local NYSNA Reps said.

Members would receive about $370 a week under the plan.

And - if all works out as planned, NYSNA Members at ECMC will have Paid Family Leave in January 2026, they said.

“It was ‘definitely high on our list and we’re definitely going to get it,’” DeNisco said, confidently.

Asked (jokingly) if there was anything else on NYSNA’s community action plate here in Buffalo, the trio quickly noted their Union and its Members are also involved in the local Ronald McDonald House and the Friends of Night People Food Pantry that serves the area’s homeless and poor.

So, it made sense for WNYLaborToday.com to ask what’s next for NYSNA’s Western New York Members?

“To be continued,” Batson answered, with a smile.