A community effort to collect menstrual products for women in need led two nurses at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital to notice something missing in their own workplace: free pads and tampons in public restrooms.
After about two years of advocacy from Renee Sanchez, director of patient care services, and Lisa Nelson, director of patient experience, the hospital has installed dispensers offering free menstrual products in its 11 public restrooms. The products are available to employees, visitors and patients’ family members.
The hospital officially unveiled the dispensers on Oct. 13 during a lobby event recognizing the initiative and the community partners who helped make it possible.
Jason Tan, the hospital’s executive director, said he had not initially recognized the need until Sanchez and Nelson explained the barriers some women face in accessing menstrual products.
“When they brought this to my attention and really gave me an understanding of the need, as well as the gap in terms of affordability and people not having these simple products to care for women, I of course wanted to support that in any way that I can,” Tan said.
Sanchez and Nelson launched the campaign through their work with the hospital’s Women’s Empowerment Business Employee Resource Group, or BERG. They had been collecting menstrual products for women experiencing financial hardship and distributing donations through local food pantries when they started thinking about access inside the hospital.
“We went in our bathrooms, and we’re like, ‘Wait a second, we don’t even have pads,’” Sanchez said.
The discovery led them to consider how the hospital could make free menstrual products available to people who unexpectedly might need them. Although patients already had access to these products, employees and visitors did not necessarily have the same convenience in the hospital’s public restrooms.
Nelson said people generally expect basic necessities to be available in a public restroom without having to bring their own supplies. She believes menstrual products should be treated the same way.
“When you walk into a bathroom, are you expected to bring a roll of toilet paper? No, it should be there, right?” Nelson said.
The project took about two years to develop, moving from gathering donations from the community to a permanent change at the hospital. During that time, Sanchez and Nelson worked with community partners, including the National Council of Jewish Women and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. The groups helped with menstrual product collections and food pantry distributions, connecting the effort to women and families who might struggle to afford supplies.
Their community work also created opportunities to discuss women’s health and the challenges that can come with limited access to menstrual products. As the effort continued, the nurses began looking beyond donations and toward a permanent solution that would make products consistently available.
Getting the dispensers installed required the support of hospital leadership. Kate O’Neill, the hospital’s chief nursing officer and chair of Northwell Health’s Women’s Empowerment BERG, helped advance the initiative. Sanchez and Nelson also brought the idea to executive leadership, including Tan and Associate Executive Director Rizza Siopu, who supported the project.
Tan said the approval process was relatively straightforward once hospital leadership understood the need. The team researched ways to distribute the products, and the hospital’s engineering department worked with Sanchez and Nelson to identify dispensers that could be installed in the restrooms.
“We have a pretty open-door policy here,” Tan said. “If there’s anything that my leaders are very passionate about, they can come to me and present a need, and it was as simple as that.”
With the backing of hospital administrators, LIJ Valley Stream purchased the dispensers through an approved vendor with help from its engineering team. Environmental services staff members restock them daily to ensure the products remain available.
Tan said making the products accessible can help ease the stress of visiting a hospital, whether someone is there to support a loved one or is working a shift.
“When you come into the hospital, you’re probably under some duress, under some stressful situation,” he said. “However we can make it a little bit easier for either family members coming in or employees who need it, who have run out, and have this accessible to them, I was happy to support.”
Sanchez said the initiative also reflects the need to pay attention to health care workers themselves. In a hospital setting, employees spend much of their time focused on caring for patients, while their own basic needs may be overlooked.
The new dispensers have received positive feedback, Nelson said. The Oct. 13 unveiling gave the hospital an opportunity to highlight the products, thank its partners and encourage more open conversations about menstrual health.
Sanchez said other Northwell Health facilities, including one in Forest Hills, have pursued menstrual product donation efforts after learning about the work in Valley Stream. She hopes the initiative will encourage other hospitals to consider how they can improve access to these products.
For Sanchez, the goal is to make menstrual products as routine a feature of public restrooms as toilet paper, so women do not have to remember to carry supplies or find a way to pay for them when they are needed.
“I would love to see this at every hospital, everywhere we go,” Sanchez said.
