Meet DJ Monstar, The Cardiac Nurse Who’s Bringing The Boom To the Picket Line
“Every song we play is a reminder of who we are: skilled, united, and unafraid to stand up for ourselves,” DJ Monstar says. “We care for our communities every day, now we’re showing up just as fiercely for each other.”
Featured Images: photos by Roderick Rubi, R.N. and Hot Rabbit; courtesy of Mila Polyak
When they’re not assisting with heart transplants, valve replacements, and all things aortic root, this trans masc R.N. is bringing the Moombahton to the party. Many know Mila Polyak as DJ Monstar – setting the pace at WITCHES of Bushwick and bringing the beat to Hot Rabbit, PROWWL, Sweet Fox, and JEM Entertainment parties, Henrietta Hudson, and Pride events. But behind the pulsating bassline is a cardiothoracic charge nurse who literally knows how to keep the pulse going. And with a historic nurse’s strike underway in New York City, this nurse isn’t just walking the picket line, they’re DJing it.
Polyak is standing in solidarity with 15,000 colleagues who seek increased staffing, better safety, and the preservation of benefits. They are relying on their union leadership to reach a deal with three of the largest hospital systems in the city. The progress has been slow.
Heralding from Ukraine, Polyak has worn the R.N. lanyard since 2013. With the exception of being out on strike, they are typically rocking the night shift at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Polyak works 12.5 hour shifts (7:00 pm to 7:30 am) plus is often on call. Thirteen shifts a month. A typical night: scrubbing in with trays and instruments, readying for an unexpected emergency, plus ensuring that all 32 ORs are prepped for the next day with equipment and surgeon preferences taken into account. “It’s like air traffic control,” they tell GO. A tall order, but the hospital system is short on staff.
Trained to work with critically ill patients, Polyak was also a front-line ICU nurse during the darkest days of COVID. They are also trained as a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE), bringing compassionate care to victims of physical and sexual abuse.
By all accounts, Polyak is a hero. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with co-workers who spend days on their feet caring for communities. Now they find they must stand up for their own well-being.
A historic New York City nurses strike remains underway
Since the walkout began on January 12, thousands of New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) members have had their healthcare insurance benefits halted. For almost four weeks, the nurses have been enduring bone-chilling weather outside as negotiations drag on over salary, healthcare insurance, and other benefits, plus security to address workplace violence. To fill in the staffing gap with the nurses absent from work, the three hospitals have spent over $100 million on temporary, traveling nurses to keep things running while thousands of nurses hold the line, demanding fair contracts that protect patient and nurse safety.
“This is what pride in our profession looks like,” Polyak says. “We’re here. We’re loud. And we’re standing together.”
Bringing in the Boom
“We were chanting out in the cold. Nobody has health insurance, and I can tell it’s getting colder,” Polyak recalls how they got a surge of inspiration. The nurse wanted to make sure people had the energy they needed – “to help keep the spirit alive, and give people hope.”
Polyak reached out to friends and colleagues. “We rented a generator. I spoke to my sound guy, whose speakers I borrowed, and we decided to amplify the noise. I said, ‘Let’s bring in the boom.'”
“Solidarity was so high, and so were people’s spirits,” says DJ Monstar, who has been spinning to keep spirits warm since January 16. “They were so happy and uplifted,” Polyak says, remembering the first time they brought the beat to the nurses. Polyak has been touched by the many messages of gratitude they’ve gotten from people they’ve never met before. “It’s an overwhelming and beautiful thing to be part of.”
Negotiations Continue
On February 9, the nurses reached a tentative deal with Mount Sinai Health System and Montefiore Medical Center, which covers about 10,500 of the striking health care workers. Hopes were high as nurses had planned to vote within days, with expectations to return to work within 72 hours in the event of a solid agreement. But Polyak shared disappointing news on February 12; they said the nurses had been blindsided by leadership and were being asked to vote on vaguely-defined terms.
“We were up to the stages of talking about staffing, staffing enforcement, and job security at this point. But leadership blindsided us and gave us 24 hours to vote on a vaguely described contract. The language was non-specific, and the members collectively said ‘no’ at the final vote on February 11 at 5 p.m.” Then at 10 pm, Polyak reports, NYSNA members received an email from the hospital offering that they could come back – but that would mean crossing the picket line.
In addition, a deal still has not been arranged with NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.
The financial piece is one of the biggest items to be negotiated. Rather than covering pension and health insurance benefits, Polyak explains that the hospitals want to simply give nurses a lump-sum “bucket” payment of $4,500 per year to be applied to all benefits, and/or to be considered as a raise (this deal would be in effect for the next three years). This is unacceptable for Polyak, who says this would leave a glaring deficit for the thousands of dedicated nurses in hospital systems where some executives are making upwards of $10 million per year.
Nurse staffing levels are also on the table. Polyak estimates that each Emergency Room nurse has about 17 patients under care.
Polyak operates from a place of emotional depth and a mission to lift the energy. That’s what brought them to the field of surgery and healthcare. “As cliché as it sounds, I wanted to save everybody,” the DJ says. “And I think the hardest pill to swallow is sometimes you cannot save everybody, but I might as well damn try, because I am the last line of defense between the patient and the grave.”
Follow DJ Monstar’s happenings on Instagram. Next stop: Ginger’s Bar in Brooklyn, Friday night, Feb. 13. See you there.
