On Tuesday, Nov. 26, Rudy Jackson, Chief Nursing Officer for Buffalo General Medical Center did a presentation at Job Security for 10 North and 10 South. At this presentation Mr. Jackson said that all CMAs from both 10 North and South will be eliminated and replaced with PCAs.
The document presented states:
“Over the years, the role of the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) has grown to become a valued member of the outpatient clinical team. In the acute care setting, such as Buffalo General, the role has been greatly limited in scope and practice. The scope of the CMA has been limited in part due to NYS regulations, but also due to the increased presence of registered nurses and unit clerks within Buffalo General Hospital. As such, Buffalo General will be transitioning the CMA’s on 10 South and 10 North to Patient Care Assistants. This change will be fully transitioned by 3/1/2020
Mr. Jackson was asked about the possibility of more CMA deletions at BGMC. He would not confirm or deny. However, the union is very concerned about the future of this job title and our members in this facility. Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 74, Job Security/Committee, the union has the right to:
- To review the proposed layoffs;
- To review the department/cost center budget inexistence at the time of layoff;
- To review the work performed by the laid off employees and the proposed reassignment of work; and
- To review schedules for appropriate use of per diem and part-time resources.
We do not believe that this is in the best interest of our patients. It is being done for cost savings alone. We are reaching out to you, our members on all of the units in both the RN and CMA job title to ask for your input. On Thursday, Dec 5th a meeting will be held at the union office at 1900 Sweet Home Rd, Amherst NY 14228 to discuss this and other issues. The meeting is from 5pm to 7pm. Please make every effort to attend.
