A massive nurse walkout leaves hospitals and patients scrambling for solutions

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As 15,000 nurses from Mount Sinai, Columbia Presbyterian and Montefiore hospitals in New York City continue their strike, patients and chesed organizations are scrambling to manage the fallout

Rabbi G. was scheduled to have spinal surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital to address a condition his doctors feared could lead to serious risks if left untreated. His children arranged to take turns being at his side and for one of them to spend Shabbos nearby in Washington Heights.

Then everything changed.

“I remember hearing something about a nurses’ strike in New York and thinking, ‘What does that have to do with me?’ ” said Yaakov*, Rabbi G’s son. “The next day, my brother called me to say my father’s surgery was being moved to another hospital we’d never heard of.”

Comparatively, Rabbi G.’s situation was better than many in similar positions. The walkout by 15,000 nurses led to countless canceled surgeries, causing backlogs likely to last for months.

At press time, the strike looked likely to head into its second week, with both sides digging in. It’s already the longest nurses strike in recent memory, eclipsing the three-day walkout in 2023. Although that dispute led to more favorable contracts for nurses, their hopes this time around for staffing and pay increases, as well as protections for health benefits, have been frustrated by hospital management, which seems determined to hold its ground.

Rabbi G.’s doctor, through his senior position, was able to move the operations he felt were most vital to an affiliate, Presbyterian Hospital Westchester in Bronxville, New York.

“We’re lucky that it’s not so far away and the doctor is bringing his team with him,” said Yaakov. “But overnight, everything became a question, from who’s going to be the support staff to how Shabbos is going to work in a place with no nearby place to stay and no bikur cholim room.”

Many perusing the news might have heard about a nurses’ union strike at three major New York hospitals and moved on to stories about Iran and Greenland. Yet for those in need of acute medical care and the dedicated corps of chesed organizations that assist them, navigating the fallout added hurdles and unknowns to already challenging situations.

Mount Sinai, Columbia-Presbyterian, and Montefiore hospitals play a big role in providing the expertise that brings thousands to New York City for treatment. When their nurses walked out, the rug beneath these vaunted institutions got pulled out, leaving hospital directors and patients scrambling for effective solutions.