These New Yorkers pay their bills, support their families and even help put their kids through college by collecting cans.
On a recent Wednesday evening, the blue-tinted plastic-bags loaded with empty cans and drained bottles look like a bunch of garbage to passers-by on the corner of Riverside Drive and West 89th Street. But to a group of family members from Queens, headed up by Jeanett Pilatacsi, they symbolize a livelihood.
Each bag is filled with about 200 discarded beverage containers — valued at five cents apiece when redeemed at an Elmsford, NY recycling center. Bit-by-bit, all of that aluminum and plastic provides an income for the Pilatacsi clan.
On the most profitable days, ambitious canners can accumulate 100 blue bags of returnables, which adds up to $1,000 in profits.
The Pilatacsis are not alone. According to Ryan Castalia, executive director of the non-profit Sure We Can redemption center, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 New Yorkers make money by collecting cans, bottles and plastic containers, and returning them to outlets for refunds. Of those, some 100 earn livelihoods through canning. Last month, it was reported that millionaire landlord Lisa Fiekowsky is known for collecting cans and bottles in her Brooklyn neighborhood and redeeming them.
Ray del Carmen, who lives in Brooklyn and now works as a manager at Sure We Can, said the savviest can-collectors know that some days are more profitable than others. Though his full-time canning days are behind him — he still helps out his girlfriend who collects cans for a living — he remembers one holiday most fondly.
Jeanett Pilatacsi (in yellow apron) with members of her family, who collect up to 100 bags of cans a day — a haul worth $1,000.William C. Lopez/NY Post
“St. Patrick’s Day was the best day,” Del Carmen told The Post. “Everyone starts drinking early. So, from 2 p.m. until 4 a.m., going from bar to bar, between 42nd Street and 45th Street, I made $800, working alone, in one day. They threw away empty bottles and cans, and I took them.”
Another hot hotspot is Flash Dancers. He remembers capitalizing on the jiggle-joint’s policy of pushing customers to purchase drinks. “In four or five hours, I could get 2,400 bottles” — which would generate $120.
Here are three stories of can collectors, all immigrants who arrived on US shores with no money and limited skills. Finding gold in other people’s refuse, they have turned themselves into shoestring entrepreneurs and discovered their American dreams.
Pilatacsi (in pink) said she and her family of 12 own a house in Rego Park, Queens, and their revenues pay all their bills.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
Family Affair
While wealthy New Yorkers look askance at can collectors lugging recyclables through ritzy neighborhoods, Jeanett Pilatacsi, 38, says it is an occupation that brings self-respect and good pay.
“This is better than my old job, working in a candle factory,” she told The Post. “It was too many hours for too little money. Now, my family and I, we work together, from noon until 8pm, collecting cans until we fill up our truck.”
The bags are transported in a white 2021 Mercedes Benz Sprinter van, purchased with credit. Sometimes the vehicle and the family members work overtime: “We’ll go out from 1 a.m. until 2 a.m. and collect bottles and cans from bars before they close.”
After Pilatacsi and her family bought this 2021 Mercedes Benz Sprinter van two years ago, she said, they were able to turn their can collecting pursuit into a proper business.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
Their payoff tonight will come in cash, more than $600 for a long day of work, when a truck pulls up from the Elmsford-based recycling company Galvanize Group to take the goods.
Smaller, additional bags hold glass, but, Pilatacsi said, “Bottles are the hardest part. They are so heavy.” They also pay the same five cents per receptacle as aluminum and plastic — a sum that has stubbornly stuck in place since 1983, when five cents then was worth 15 cents now.
Though Pilatacsi and her family of a dozen are satisfied to be making bank this way, the business began out of necessity.
Pilatacsi said collecting cans came out of necessity after her father lost his construction job.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
“Fifteen years ago, my father lost his job in construction,” she said. “It was scary. We did not know how we would pay the rent. He went out with a shopping cart and started gathering cans. Now he is retired and we took over.”
At the beginning, she added, he would accumulate 30 boxes of returnables per week. Now, on their best days, the family members collect as many as 100 bags, which would be good for $1,000.
Their decision to treat can collecting as a business made it all possible, she said. They learned the value of forging relationships with doormen and porters, in order to obtain their discarded treasures, and to ignore the haters. “Sometimes people will say to me that we’re digging in garbage,” she explained with an eye roll. “But we don’t care. We know what we’re doing.”
She said a key element to successful can collecting is forging relationships with buildings’ doormen and porters.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
All 12 collection crew members are related and live together in a Rego Park house that they own. Pilatacsi said their profits from canning pay all their bills. When they’re not working, they eat meals communally, help to raise one another’s children and share in the thousands that can be earned each week.
After a day of canning in Manhattan, where they tend to forage from 99th to 86th Streets, Pilatacsi likes to unwind with a shower, family dinner and telenovela before going to bed, waking up the next morning and starting all over again.
The kids help collect cans every now and then when they’re not in school. Pilatacsi’s nephew Nelson, 11, plans to attend college and recently pitched in during the waning days of summer vacation. On weekends, he said, “We all take it easy and go to the park together.”
Former construction worker Mario Palonci, 70, said he makes up for financial shortfalls by collecting 2,000 cans a night when he can muster up the energy.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
Retirement Plan
For Mario Palonci, a 70-year-old immigrant from the Czech Republic, canning has served as a lifeline.
A reformed alcoholic — “I drank 20 or 30 cans of beer per day,” he told The Post. “Beer, beer, beer…” — who had been living on the street after his construction jobs dried up, he now resides in a Brooklyn shelter and makes up for financial shortfalls by collecting 2,000 cans per night when he musters the energy to do it.
“Most people who work all night, they go home,” Palonci told The Post. “I spend the morning sorting through my cans, organizing them, putting them in the proper bags. It’s hard work, but it is the best work for me.”
Palonci came to New York from the Czech Republic.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
Besides providing money, he said it earns him respect. “I work on Bedford Street,” said Palonci, who said he suffers from type 2 diabetes and transports his redeemable goods in a cart. “The bar owners know me and know that there will be no disorder from me. I am a professional.”
Meals are offered to him at the shelter but money from canning provides Palonci with other essentials. Besides additional food, transportation and clothing, he said, “I must have cigarettes and Internet. I need to read the news from home.”
Josefa Marin said she helped put her daughter through college via can collecting. Now, she and her boyfriend, Pedro Romero, are a team, foraging for cans nightly.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
Dual Income
For Josefa Marin, an immigrant from Mexico, the collecting of cans means nothing less than a better future for her child. During the early 2000s, her daughter was commuting from home to Briarcliffe College on Long Island, and Marin struggled to get by with a succession of low-paying jobs. One was in a clothing factory, another in a restaurant. After losing the restaurant gig and unable to find another, she turned to can collecting to pay for her daughter’s books, meals and commuting expenses.
Talking to others who collected cans, 53-year-old Marin picked up tips and discovered something amazing about a line of labor that seemed like a last resort.
“I’m my own boss and can work hard to be successful. I walked through Bushwick and Greenpoint, going into bars and restaurants, asking for their cans and bottles. At the beginning I was making $20 or $30 a day. Then it got to $90.”
Collecting cans allows Marin to be her own boss.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
These days, Marin benefits from her established connections with building workers who appreciate her coming by and taking bags of recyclable refuse off their hands.
“It’s all about relationships,” she said. “You show your work ethic and come with respect. You don’t make a mess and leave everything better than it was before you got there.”
In 2011, she had a chance meeting with a man called Pedro Romero, who was from her hometown of Puebla. He, too, was struggling to get by in NYC. They recognized one another, fell in love and combined forces to profitably can together. They now live together in a Williamsburg walk-up and work night and day, sleeping when they can (often in their car, which gets used for transport).
Marin and Romero can pull in up to 5,000 cans a day.Luis E. Velez for NY Post
As a team, she said they pull in 5,000 cans a day. Because they do their own sorting and separating at the non-profit Sure We Can, they can yield 6.5 cents per can.
When the couple considers their future, they have the same dream as many people nearing their golden years.
“Eventually, we want to take it easy” said Romero. “We are saving money and looking forward to returning home to our country. We’d like to retire together in Mexico.”
Understanding the Nurse’s Role in Managing Medical Errors
Introduction
Medical errors are an capella flexpath tutor unfortunate yet real aspect of healthcare systems worldwide. Despite advances in technology, education, and patient safety initiatives, mistakes still happen — sometimes with serious consequences. Among healthcare providers, nurses occupy a critical frontline role in preventing, identifying, reporting, and managing medical errors.
Given that nurses spend the most time with patients and are involved in nearly every aspect of patient care, their ability to handle medical errors ethically and effectively is vital for patient safety, trust, and system-wide improvements. This article explores the types of medical errors, the multifaceted role of nurses in managing them, the challenges they face, and strategies to promote a safer healthcare environment.
Defining Medical Errors
A medical error can be defined as the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim. Errors can occur at any stage of healthcare delivery — from diagnosis and treatment to aftercare and prevention.
Common categories of medical errors include:
Medication errors: Incorrect drug administration, dosing mistakes, or adverse drug interactions.
Diagnostic errors: Delayed, wrong, or missed diagnoses.
Surgical errors: Wrong-site surgery or retained surgical items.
Communication errors: Miscommunication among healthcare teams or between providers and patients.
Equipment failures: Malfunctions or misuse of medical devices.
Understanding the sources and types of errors is the first step in managing and mitigating them.
The Nurse’s Responsibility in Managing Medical Errors
Nurses have critical ethical, professional, and legal responsibilities when it comes to medical errors. Their role spans prevention, immediate response, disclosure, documentation, emotional support, and systemic advocacy.
Preventing Medical Errors
Prevention is the most proactive aspect of the nurse's role. Nurses implement safety checks and adhere to best practices to minimize the likelihood of errors.
Key preventive measures include:
Following the “Five Rights” of Medication Administration: Right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, and right time.
Double-checking high-risk nurs fpx 4005 assessment 1 medications: Such as insulin, anticoagulants, and chemotherapy agents.
Effective communication: Using tools like SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) to transfer information accurately.
Patient education: Empowering patients to understand their medications, procedures, and care plans.
Environmental vigilance: Ensuring that workspaces are free of distractions and interruptions, especially during critical tasks.
Identifying Medical Errors
Despite best efforts, errors can and do occur. Early identification can prevent harm or minimize its severity.
Nurses must stay alert for:
Changes in patient condition that suggest an error (e.g., unexpected allergic reactions).
Inconsistencies in medical orders, lab results, or treatment plans.
Malfunctions of equipment or issues with supplies.
Vigilant monitoring and prompt recognition are key to catching errors early.
Immediate Response to Errors
When an error occurs, the nurse's immediate priorities are:
Ensure patient safety: Provide necessary interventions to stabilize the patient and prevent further harm.
Inform appropriate parties: Notify physicians, supervisors, and the care team promptly.
Document events accurately: Maintain clear, objective, and factual documentation without placing blame or speculation.
Swift, transparent action not only nurs fpx 4015 assessment 5 protects the patient but also supports ethical and legal standards.
Disclosure to Patients and Families
Disclosure of medical errors is ethically mandatory, even when the consequences are minor. Patients have a right to know what happened to them.
Nurses may not always be the sole individuals responsible for disclosure, but they play a key role in:
Supporting honest conversations: Participating alongside physicians during discussions with patients and families.
Providing emotional support: Acknowledging patients’ feelings and answering questions compassionately.
Advocating for transparency: Encouraging a culture where open, honest communication is the norm.
Best practices for disclosure include using simple, non-technical language, expressing genuine empathy, and focusing on next steps to address the error.
Documentation and Reporting
Proper documentation is crucial following a medical error. Nurses must:
Record the facts: Who, what, when, where, and how — without assumptions or subjective opinions.
Complete incident reports: These internal documents allow healthcare organizations to track patterns and implement safety improvements.
Participate in Root Cause Analyses (RCAs): Nurses may be involved in investigations to determine systemic causes of errors and identify solutions.
Transparent reporting is not about assigning blame but about learning and system improvement.
Providing Emotional Support
Errors can be traumatic for patients, families — and healthcare providers themselves. Nurses often experience feelings of guilt, shame, and fear after being involved in a medical error, a phenomenon known as the “second victim” effect.
Nurses should:
Seek support from peers, supervisors, employee assistance programs, or professional counselors.
Participate in debriefings that allow safe expression of emotions and mutual support.
Promote a blame-free environment that recognizes that errors are often symptoms of larger systemic problems, not individual failings.
Compassion for oneself and others is essential to healing and learning.
Advocating for System Improvements
Nurses are in a unique position to see the day-to-day realities of patient care and where vulnerabilities exist.
They can advocate for:
Policy changes that reduce workload and fatigue — both major contributors to errors.
Improved staffing ratios to allow adequate time for safe practice.
Better communication systems such as standardized handoff protocols.
Ongoing education on emerging best practices in patient safety.
Nurse advocacy is a powerful tool for systemic change and the prevention of future errors.
Barriers Nurses Face in Managing Medical Errors
Despite their critical role, nurses encounter several obstacles when dealing with medical errors:
Fear of punishment or litigation: Some nurses hesitate to report errors out of fear for their jobs or licenses.
Blame culture: In punitive environments, individuals may be blamed instead of examining systems.
Lack of training: Many nurses have not received formal education on error disclosure or emotional recovery.
Time constraints: Heavy workloads make it difficult to document thoroughly, debrief, or participate in system improvements.
Addressing these barriers is essential to empowering nurses and enhancing patient safety.
Promoting a Culture of Safety: Strategies for Healthcare Organizations
To support nurses in managing medical errors, healthcare organizations must cultivate a culture of safety rather than a culture of blame. Key strategies include:
Encouraging transparent reporting: Recognizing that every error report is an opportunity to improve.
Implementing Just Culture principles: Distinguishing between human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless behavior.
Providing training: Offering education on error prevention, disclosure communication, and emotional resilience.
Supporting second victims: Establishing peer support programs for healthcare providers impacted by errors.
Investing in system redesign: Using data from error reports to make meaningful changes in processes and technology.
The Legal and Ethical Implications
Nurses must be aware of the legal and ethical dimensions of managing medical errors. Key considerations include:
Duty of candor: Ethical principles and, increasingly, legal requirements emphasize honesty with patients.
Protection under reporting laws: In many regions, incident reporting within healthcare organizations is protected from legal discovery, encouraging openness.
Licensure concerns: Professional boards review cases of gross negligence but generally support nurses who act responsibly post-error.
Understanding rights and responsibilities helps nurses navigate complex situations confidently.
The Future: How Technology is Shaping Error Management
Emerging technologies promise new ways to prevent and manage medical errors:
Electronic health records (EHRs): Help standardize documentation and flag potential errors.
Barcode medication administration (BCMA): Reduces medication errors through electronic verification.
Artificial intelligence (AI): Predicts risk and assists in early identification of potential errors.
Simulation training: Allows nurses to practice handling errors and disclosures in a safe environment.
Technology enhances — but does not replace — the need for vigilant, compassionate nursing care.
Conclusion
Medical errors are inevitable in nurs fpx 4035 assessment 3 complex healthcare systems, but how they are managed makes all the difference. Nurses are at the forefront of preventing, identifying, responding to, and learning from errors. Their actions protect patients, uphold professional integrity, and drive improvements that benefit the entire healthcare system.
By embracing a culture of safety, fostering transparency, and advocating for systemic change, nurses can transform medical errors from sources of fear into catalysts for growth and safer care. Compassion — for patients, colleagues, and oneself — remains at the heart of ethical, effective nursing practice in the face of human imperfection.