Nurses Who Cared For Midwood Teen Say They’ve Been Shorted $40k For Services, Still Provide Care

Hayley Zarzana is a teenager in Midwood with severe medical problems. Bound to a wheelchair and forced to use a ventilator, Zarzana requires around the clock care from a team of five Brooklyn nurses. The nurses, who work for the Abundant Life Agency, have filed complaints with the Department of Labor over unpaid wages totaling $40,000, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

The nurses quickly noticed that they weren’t getting paid for their services, and when they complained, they were promised they would be paid shortly. The payments never came and the nurses refused to quit in fear that Zarzana wouldn’t receive the urgent care she required.

“We are begging for our money,” one nurse told the Daily News, who requested anonymity. “I’ve maxed out my credit card and am in debt.”

The nurses moved to a new agency at a group that promised a carryover of Zarzana’s account and is currently paying them. Still, they are owed tens of thousands from Abundant Life, an agency that might be having financial troubles of its own.

The company has had more than $150,000 in tax liens placed on it in recent years, records show. It is unclear if any have been paid off.

“They played back and forth with all of us,” [Joanna] Caliendo said. “All the nurses have had a problem. There are some nurses who haven’t been paid at least 10 to 15 thousand.”