To: Jonathan Wangel, NYC Health + Hospitals Labor Relations VP; George Lawrence, Director of Labor Relations; Sheldon McCleod, Kings County Hospital CEO; Opal Sinclair-Chung, Kings County Hospital CNO; Dr. Natalia Cineas, Chief Nursing Executive
We, the undersigned nurses, ancillary staff, and physicians at Kings County Hospital Center, demand the immediate reinstatement of ICU Nurse Practitioner (NP) Sarah Dowd to active duty and compensation for lost wages following her suspension without pay notice which was delivered on October 9th, 2026.
NP Dowd has committed almost 10 years providing excellent care for patients at NYC H+H. She has also been supporting nurses across Kings County Hospital as we advocate for patient safety and for the enforcement of our state-mandated safe staffing ratios. It is appalling that NP Dowd be targeted for her efforts to discuss documented and long-standing staffing concerns raised by bedside nurses, which are ultimately patient safety concerns, and it is unacceptable that she has been suspended without pay from her job and barred from all H+H facilities without any specific charges filed against her.
The targeting of our elected LBU Vice President sends a chilling message to all NYSNA nurses and H+H unionized staff — that exercising our rights to advocate for ourselves and our patients will be met with intimidation and retaliation by this administration.
We demand the immediate reinstatement of NP Sarah Dowd and compensation for lost wages following her suspension without pay on October 9, 2026.
We, Kings County nurses, clinical staff, and community members, will not stand for the unfair targeting of any nurse. Union busting is disgusting and illegal! An injury to one is an injury to all!
