Mazankowski's report and Alberta's health
<http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=nurses&option=&start_row=7¤t_row=7&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1>
Toronto Globe & Mail, January 9, 2002
Advance reports suggested we were in for a radical reshaping of Alberta's health-care system, a skewering of accepted wisdom and an arrow pointing to the sunny uplands of a better, affordable arrangement for Albertans ... but the document released yesterday by the Premier's Advisory Council on Health ... was great at asking all the right questions and shy about proposing specific answers, particularly when it came to new streams of revenue. ...
Professor puts focus on role of nurses
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=D19B8E2F-67B7-42F5-B9C6-405C2F78D409>
Jeff Bell, Victoria Times Colonist, January 6, 2002
The importance of nurses to the health-care system will be discussed in a pair of public lectures this week. Award-winning author Suzanne Gordon, a nursing professor at McGill University in Montreal, will speak at UVic Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 167 of the Elliott Building. ...
Nurses float idea to cover shortages
A float pool of nurses deployed to different hospitals as the need arises could help alleviate the emergency-ward crisis plaguing the Lower Mainland, the BC Nurses' Union said Tuesday. ...
Lawsuit disputes truth of Kaiser Permanente ads
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/01/07/BU178030.DTL>
Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, January 7, 2002
The long-running advertisements by Kaiser Permanente claimed medical decisions were "in the hands of doctors." But a consumer group says it will introduce documents during an impending trial that show those decisions were not only in the hands of the Kaiser administrators, but also in the hands of an accounting firm. ...
RNs, Enloe Medical Center Reach Agreement
Registered Nurses at Enloe Medical Center in Chico reached a tentative agreement with hospital officials Thursday afternoon on a first contract that should provide significant improvements for nurses and patient care, the California Nurses Association announced today. CNA represents some 450 RNs at the hospital. ... Membership meetings and votes are scheduled Monday, January 14. ...
Health Spending Reached $1.3T
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11532-2002Jan7.html>
Janelle Carter, Associated Press, January 7, 2002
WASHINGTON Americans' spending on health care rose 6.9 percent to $1.3 trillion in 2000, including a 17.3 percent boost in spending on prescription drugs, the government says. Health care spending averaged $4,637 per person, up from $4,377 in 1999, the government said in a report marking what its economists called the "end of an era of reasonable health care cost growth throughout most of the 1990s." ...
RealPlayer: NPR: Nursing Shortage with Peter Buerhaus & Cheryl Johnson
<http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/totn/20020102.totn.02.ram>
The Destruction of Medicine by Market Forces:
Teaching Acquiescence or Resistance and Change?
<http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7141>
(HRG Publication #1603)
* Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and read this document. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can access this free software by clicking on the graphic. You will only have to complete this process once.
Myth: The US has the best health care system in the world.
Fact: The US has among the worst health statistics of all rich nations.
<http://home.att.net/~resurgence/L-healthcare.htm>
The US does not have the best health care system in the world - it has the best emergency care system in the world. Advanced US medical technology has not translated into better health statistics for its citizens; indeed, the US ranks near the bottom in list after list of international comparisons. Part of the problem is that there is more profit in a pound of cure than an ounce of prevention. Another part of the problem is that America has the highest level of poverty and income inequality among all rich nations, and poverty affects one's health much more than the limited ministrations of a formal health care system. ...
The Patient Doctor
If the adage is true -- that it's not how people get along when they agree, but how they get along when they don't -- then Dr. Quentin Young must be judged a success. Both his friends and foes, and you can't always tell them apart, say Young is easy to disagree with but very hard to dislike. Which is doubtless a good thing for Young, now 78, because he loves to argue and has chosen the unpopular, anti-authoritarian, progressive side of just about every issue to come down the pike during the last 65 years, be it racial equity, the Vietnam War (or any war for that matter, including the current one in Afghanistan) or national health insurance. "It's true," Young says with his self-admitted immodesty, "that over the years I've aligned myself with unpopular causes, but over time they've become the majority opinions." ... Last summer, he and other health-care activists marched for 15 days across 137 miles of northern Illinois to drum up political support for the Bernardin Amendment to the state constitution. Named for the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who supported universal health care, the proposed amendment would guarantee health insurance for every Illinois resident. The movement for universal coverage has adopted a slogan that Young came up with: "Everybody in, nobody out." ...
Hospital in good shape with new ownership
<http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/da37732b0078d6c285256ad500494df3/86256a0e0068fe5086256b3d00515420?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,nurses>
Robert Kelly, The Post-Dispatch, January 10, 2002
This story was published in Madison County Post on Thursday, January 10, 2002.
GRANITE CITY - The conversion of St. Elizabeth Medical Center into a for-profit, nondenominational facility initially means a new name for the old hospital, some longtime employees say. ... As of New Year's Day, St. Elizabeth became the Gateway Regional Medical Center. And instead of being owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Divine Providence, as it had been since 1921, the hospital is owned and run by Community Health Systems Inc., of Brentwood, Tenn. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. ...
Americans should consider establishing a national health-insurance system that covers everyone. Soaring premium and prescription-drug prices alone should make such a system more appealing than in the past. Especially drug prices, anticipated to grow an average 12.6 percent a year between now and 2010, according to federal health economists. Many middle-class Americans see their pay raises gobbled up by their ever-increasing share of employers' mushrooming health-care costs. And they should feel fortunate. Many other Americans can't afford private health insurance, yet don't meet guidelines for Medicaid, the government program for the poor. They range from low-wage workers whose employers don't offer health insurance to laid-off professionals who find it tough to come up with the money to continue the health-care coverage they had with their employers. ...
To Protect Patients in Hospitals and Long Term Care, Kentucky needs:
*Safe Staffing *An end to forced overtime
NPO's ³Patients' Bill of Rights² (BR 288) sponsored by Rep. Joni Jenkins would allow nurses to decline forced overtime. BR 288 protects patients by assuring that nurses will not be forced to delegate to those who do not have the appropriate expertise to handle a patient assignment safely. The bill would enforce safer staffing by mandating hospitals and nursing homes to make their staffing plans public and to staff in accordance with the plan for each unit. The bill provides for whistleblower protection for nurses and other caregivers to advocate for their patients. The bill provides extra protection for the most vulnerable patients by setting minimum staffing for newborn nurseries, intensive care nurseries, pediatric units, and pediatric intensive care units. Nurses, healthcare workers, and the community must speak up to pass this bill ... forward this email to nurses and friends in Jefferson County. Let's get the messages rolling in. NPO has brochures on BR 288. Contact us if you would like some copies or if you would like to help further on this project. Want to testify in Frankfort? Just let us know and you'll get your chance! We need help with mailings too.
Nurses Professional Organization NPO, 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2200, Louisville, KY 40217, 502-459-3393, nursenpo@aol.com
Critics fault US health care rules as costly, onerous
<http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?ID=48447>
Mal Leary, Capitol News Service, January 7, 2002
AUGUSTA ‹ The Maine state government and the state¹s health care industry will spend tens of millions of dollars over the next three years to comply with federal regulations aimed at simplifying health care information and improving accountability. But critics argue the money could be better spent on health care, not computers and software. ...
King called 'shortsighted' on Medicaid
<http://www.portland.com/news/statehouse/020111medicaid.shtml>
Paul Carrier, Portland Press Herald, January 11, 2002
AUGUSTA ‹ Maine doctors may start accepting fewer Medicaid patients, or stop seeing them entirely, if the Legislature cuts reimbursements to physicians as Gov. Angus King has proposed in his new budget. ... That has Mainers covered by Medicaid worried that they may have trouble getting medical care in the future. About 187,000 Mainers have full Medicaid insurance and another 108,000 have prescription-drug coverage through Medicaid. ...
11 hospitals, Cigna at odds over contract
A contractual dispute between 11 hospitals in eastern and northern Maine and Cigna Health Care of Maine likely will result in a split that could force thousands of Mainers to change their hospital and doctor of choice. The dispute between Maine Health Alliance, a consortium of hospitals and doctors that includes St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, and insurance giant Cigna grew after the alliance charged that the insurer wasn¹t living up to its contractual obligations. ...
MSNA Nurse Alert: LD 1085 Nurse/Patient Ratio Bill
<http://www.mainenurse.org>
The hearing date for LD 1085 Nurse/Patient Ratio Bill has been set for Wednesday, January 16th at 1:30. The hearing will take place in Room 202 at the State House. MSNA needs AS MANY NURSES AS POSSIBLE TO ATTEND THIS HEARING! Please check your schedules to see if you can attend. Please also ask a colleague or family member to attend with you. ...
Nurses begin contract talks
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=2793D15A-EE1B-492C-8599-BDAF338D707F>
CP, January 6, 2002
A critical round of contract talks begins today between Manitoba nurses and their employer. Manitoba Nurses Union President Maureen Hancharyk says boosting salaries by 31 per cent would make Manitoba competitive with B-C, Ontario and Alberta. ...
Recruiters looking to lure away nurses
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=E38E7CA3-28B4-4FC6-A0AB-DE3ACBB1C459>
CP, January 9, 2002
WINNIPEG -- Manitoba's nurses returned to the bargaining table this week, while health-care recruiters are headed to the province with hefty signing bonuses. Recruiters from Canada and the US will be in Winnipeg January 19th looking to fill 10,000 job openings. Signing bonuses are as high as $10,000. ...
500-700 layoffs for Beth Israel in effort to avert sale
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/008/nation/500_700_layoffs_for_Beth_Israel_in_effort_to_avert_sale+.shtml>
Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, January 8, 2002
The new chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center said yesterday that he will lay off 500 to 700 employees, or 10 percent to 15 percent of the staff, in part to forestall the possibility of selling the Harvard Medical School teaching hospital to a for-profit health care company. ... The hospital's approximately 900 nurses will be exempt from layoffs, which means that some other departments will see their ranks shrink more than 15 percent. Physicians will not be spared, but administrators and other ''behind-the-scenes'' employees will be hardest hit. ...
BU prof offers solutions for hospital ER crunches
<http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/ambu01092002.htm>
Michael Lasalandra, Boston Herald, January 9, 2002
Boston-area hospitals had to turn away emergency patients twice as often in 2001 as in 2000, but could solve the problem by scheduling elective admissions more evenly and staffing to peak volumes, a Boston University professor says. ³We have to staff to the peaks,² said Eugene Litvak, professor of health care and operations management, who will present his ideas at a conference today on the emergency room diversion issue. ³We have to staff to peak demand at all times.² ...
Beth Israel found long on staffing, short on vision
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/010/nation/Beth_Israel_found_long_on_staffing_short_on_vision+.shtml>
Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, January 10, 2002
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, suffers from widespread financial problems, including an unnecessarily large staff, too many doctors-in-training, a lack of accountability for its managers and renowned physicians, and financial losses even on services like same-day surgery that are profitable at most hospitals, consultants concluded after a three-month study. The Hunter Group, one of the best-known hospital consulting firms in the country, said Beth Israel Deaconess, a national research powerhouse, has no vision or strategy. ... They said if a financial turnaround can't be achieved within six months, the hospital should be sold to a for-profit health care chain. ...
Consultant recommends staffing cuts, criticizes finances at Beth Israel
<http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/ap_beth01102002.htm>
Associated Press , January 10, 2002
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, lost $67 million dollars during the last fiscal year and could lose as much as $102 million this year because of a bloated staff and lack of accountability, according to a management consultant's report. The Hunter Group, a hospital consulting firm, said the hospital should be sold to a for-profit health care chair if a financial turnaround can't be achieved in six months. Paul Levy, the hospital's new chief executive, has said he will immediately lay off 10 to 15 percent of the staff, or 500 to 700 people. The report recommended 725 layoffs. Levy rejected other recommendations, such as shutting down community health centers if more federal funding can't be found. ...
New England Medical Center Nurses Ratify 21 Month Contract
BOSTON, Mass - After just three months of negotiations with hospital management over their union contract, the registered nurses of New England Medical Center last night voted to ratify a new 21-month contract that includes salary increases of between 18 and 23% depending on nurses' years of experience. The contract also includes increases in shift differentials for nurses who work evenings and nights, provides free parking for nurses working the night shift and provides access to medical insurance benefits for nurses working as little as 20 hours per week. The contract will make the nurses of New England Medical Center (more than 1200 work at the facility) among the highest paid nurses in the Commonwealth, with nurses at the top of the salary scale earning nearly $46 per hour at the end of the contract period. ...
Update: Advisory Committee on Consolidated
Health Care Financing and Streamlined Delivery
The consulting firm of LECG of Evanston, Illinois <http://www.lecg.com> and its partners, William M. Mercer, Inc. and McDonell Consulting have been chosen to conduct the study on consolidated health care financing and streamlined health care delivery with a $250,000 grant allocated under Chapter 141, passed in July 2000.
Editor¹s Note: Chapter 141 was passed under pressure from Question 5, projected by the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care and supported by a coalition which included the Massachusetts Nurses Association. BC Associate Professor Judy Rothschild, RN, is MNA¹s representative on this advisory committee, whose final report should be released in time for the 2002 election campaigns and debates.
Hospitals say AG probing medical ties
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly is investigating alleged anticompetitive activity in the Greater Boston health care market and has sent demands to numerous hospitals for a wide range of information on their relationships with referring physicians, according to two attorneys for the hospitals. ...
Competition data sought from 3 local hospitals
<http://ledger.southofboston.com/archives>
Sue Reinert, The Patriot Ledger, January 11, 2002
At least three local hospitals have been asked to provide information to Attorney General Thomas Reilly as part of an investigation into alleged anti-competitive activities in the health care industry, hospital officials said Friday. The officials said they don't know what allegations are under investigation and added they are sure their activities don't violate any laws. ...
Dr. Richard H. Koehler Resigns Post at Hospital; Criticizes Administration
<http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2002/01/11/dr_koehler_resigns.php>
Julia Wells, Martha¹s Vineyard Gazette, January 12, 2002
Dr. Richard H. Koehler, a highly skilled laparoscopic surgeon whose arrival on the Vineyard seven years ago was hailed as a new era in medicine on the Vineyard, announced this week that he will sever his contract with the Martha's Vineyard Hospital because of irreconcilable differences with hospital chief executive officer Kevin Burchill and the hospital board of trustees. "Our real issue is with the direction that Mr. Burchill's actions are taking this hospital and the future of this hospital's true responsibilities to this community," Dr. Koehler wrote in an open letter to the Vineyard community ...
CareGroup votes to shut Waltham hospital
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/012/business/CareGroup_votes_to_shut_Waltham_hospital+.shtml>
Emily Sweeney, Globe Staff Correspondent, January 12, 2002
Struggling CareGroup Healthcare System yesterday voted to close its 180-bed community hospital in Waltham after it failed to find a buyer. CareGroup, which said Deaconess-Waltham Hospital posted $8 million in operating losses last year, filed a formal notice of closure with the state Department of Public Health after an all-day meeting of its board yesterday. State law requires hospitals to inform regulators 90 days before closing, and a public hearing must be held. The hospital was put up for sale in June by the financially struggling CareGroup, which also operates Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Deaconess-Glover Hospital in Needham, and Deaconess-Nashoba Hospital in Ayer. ...
Waltham hospital closing
<http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/deac01122002.htm>
Jennifer Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, January 12, 2002
Deaconess-Waltham Hospital officials said late yesterday that they plan to close the 1,200-employee institution within three months in the wake of financial losses and a failure to find a buyer. Trustees of the hospital's parent, CareGroup Inc., voted yesterday to notify the state that Deaconess-Waltham will shut down. The suburban hospital lost about $4.5 million on operations in fiscal 2000 and the red ink has risen since. ³We have exhausted all possible options for stabilizing and improving the hospital's financial position,² said John Hamill, CareGroup's board chairman. ³There is truly no alternative that will stem the hospital's approximately $8 million annual loss.² The hospital operates 163 beds, down from more than 200. It's one of Waltham's biggest employers. ³It's a sad situation for the nurses, the community and everyone involved,² said Patti Camuti, a 30-year nursing veteran at the hospital. ³It's a place so many of us have grown up with. Many of the people who work there are from the community and it's always been a part of our lives.² ...
BMC regrets failing to aid homeless mom, baby
<http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/home01122002.htm>
Michael Lasalandra, January 12, 2002
Officials at Boston Medical Center yesterday said they ³deeply regret² failing to help a homeless teenager and her baby after they showed up in need of shelter. ³This incident is of particular concern because a young infant is involved and the response was inconsistent with BMC's standard practice of treating and assisting homeless patients,² said Ellen Berlin, hospital spokesperson. (A)dvocates for the homeless say the incident illustrates the problems homeless families have finding shelter. ...
MNA is proud to join more than 35 labor, immigrant, religious, welfare, and social justice organizations in endorsing a "speak out" event at Faneuil Hall on Feb. 2, 2002. Please read and share the information below with your email networks and join us in raising our voices on behalf of those being harmed by this recession. A flyer is attached for printing and posting.
Recession in Massachusetts ... It's time to "speak out" for jobs, health care and quality public services:
Across the state, working people and retirees are facing tough times. Thousands of people are being laid off, losing their health care and retirement benefits. Social services, unemployment and welfare benefits have been rolled back, so there is virtually no safety net left to protect Massachusetts families. Meanwhile, CEOs are getting big bonuses, companies are getting hefty tax breaks and Congress is talking about giving another huge tax break for the rich. Speak out to community leaders and our elected officials!*
Saturday, February 2, 2 - 5 PM
Faneuil Hall, Boston
And plan now to attend a special follow-up conference "Forging a New Social Contract" set for Saturday, February 9. Call for more info.
* All Mass. members of Congress, state constitutional officers and the Mayor of Boston invited.
Sponsored by the Massachusetts Workers' Rights Board and endorsed by more than 35 labor, immigrant, religious, welfare, and social justice organizations.
For more information, call Massachusetts Jobs with Justice (617) 524-8778 or email bostonjwj@mindspring.com <<speakout.p65.doc>>. Download this flyer in Microsoft Word Format from <http://www.unionwebservices.com/020111massjwj.doc> (83K).
School Health Lobby Day On Beacon Hill
The Massachusetts School Nursing Services Collaborative lobbies to increase state funding for school health services. On Monday, February 11, 2002 at the State House we are kicking off our Fiscal Year 2003 budget effort to protect school health funding from possible budget cuts and increase state resources for school health and nursing services in more schools across the Commonwealth. We invite school nurses, parents and colleagues to join us on that day, to thank legislators for their past support of school health funding, and to ask them to increase funding for school health/school nursing services in the FY 2003 state budget. On behalf of the school children of Massachusetts and the school nurses who deliver care to an increasingly medically complex population of students, we hope you will join us on February 11th.
For more information please call (508) 788-1054.
Members of the Massachusetts School Nursing Services Collaborative:
American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Asthma & Allergy Foundation, American Cancer Society, Epilepsy Association of Massachusetts & Rhode Island, Health Care for All, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Massachusetts School Nurse Organization, Patients Alliance for Catholic Education, Partners for a Healthier Community
Your Health Care: Choice or Chance?
The Social Conscience of Health Care!
<http://www.tvyourhealthcare.org>
Welcome to the exciting and innovative public access television series, "Your Health Care: Choice or Chance?" which began production in March 1995 at Brookline Access Television in Brookline, Massachusetts, and which now airs in Boston, the Boston neighborhoods and more than fifty other Massachusetts communities. The potential viewership is more than 600,000 and growing! ...
Hi, Sandy,
I forgot to mention that Newton is one of the few towns not airing Your Health Care. Many Newton residents are now calling or writing Mayor David Cohen to get the show on there. Do you think any Newton nurses would like to do this?
Ellen
Editor¹s Note: Ellen Kagan is the founder and producer of ³Your Health Care: Choice or Chance?² This syndicated cable television series has repeatedly presented coverage of nursing¹s involvement in the fight for fundamental health care reform through the single-payer movement and the fight to pass Question 5, against the corporatization of health care in Massachusetts and for safe staffing through the passage of H1186. If this show is not available in your community, contact Ellen to find out how to change that. As Ellen pointed out, there¹s a campaign under weigh right now in Newton, so any Newton readers of Seachange are urged to express their support. Plans are being made right now to tape a show in April to update viewers¹ knowledge of nursing¹s safe care campaign.
Short staffing imperils elderly patients
<http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20020106/1035174.asp>
Lisa Yates, GNP, RN, West Clarksville, January 6, 2002
I read with interest The News series on nursing homes. I am a registered nurse and recently obtained my Geriatric Nurse Practitioner degree. Currently I work at Highland Healthcare Center in Wellsville, which placed 10th on the list. I have worked there for nearly three years and we are experiencing difficulties in staffing. ... (A)fter my one-week orientation, I was working 10 hours or more each day. When I complained, I was told that if I wanted that position, I needed to be dedicated. Most staff members did not take their breaks or lunch. In addition, the staffing level was terrible. ...
In NY, Taking a Breath of Fear
NEW YORK -- There was something about the air. For a while after Sept. 11, George Tabb and his wife tried to stick it out in their apartment just north of the World Trade Center, tried to ignore his twice-nightly asthma attacks and her pounding headaches. Eventually, they moved in with Tabb's stepfather. But Tabb still goes home to pick up his mail, and within 20 minutes the metallic taste returns to his mouth, and the wheezing. "All of a sudden, boom, I've got a nosebleed, the asthma, a headache," he said. ...
Health care crossroads: protect more needy or health workers?
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--pataki-healthcare0110jan10.story>
Michael Gormley, Associated Press, January 10, 2002
ALBANY, NY -- In hard fiscal times for New York, a battle over a potential $1 billion windfall is pitting the health care needs of the working poor against care providers and a politically influential union facing a worker crisis. Gov. George Pataki pushed an initiative in Wednesday's State of the State message to raise salaries for health care workers. The proposal also aims to avoid cutting Medicaid to balance the state budget blindsided by a national recession and as much as $8 billion in revenue losses from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by March 2003. ...
Hospital Nurses Picket Job Fair
<http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-linurs112546166jan11.story?coll=ny%2Dlinews%2Dprint>
Barbara J. Durkin, Newsday, January 11, 2002
Inside a Melville office building, Catholic Health Services was holding a job fair to recruit employees for its network of hospitals and health care providers. Outside the building, about 40 nurses from St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown were warning prospective employees. "CHS: Unfair and Unsafe" read one sign carried by nurses during day 45 of a strike - the longest Long Island nurses' strike in recent memory -against St. Catherine's. "Are you up to 16-hour shifts?" asked another sign. "We want people to know CHS does not treat its employees fairly," said Michael Chacon, the union representative from the New York State Nurses Association. Strike issues include health coverage, staffing guidelines and forced overtime. ...
St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center Strike
<http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/current/stcath.htm>
Latest Developments:
* Nurses picketed Catholic Health Services Job Fair
* St. Catherine¹s Nurses Reach Out to the Smithtown Community
Teams of nurses will visit area shopping centers, distributing leaflets and talking to the public one-on-one about strike issues. Leaflets are available here online (Adobe Acrobat Reader required; download a free Acrobat Reader.)
Union Will Back East Side GOPer
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-01-11/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-137855.asp>
Joel Siegel, January 11, 2002
Hospital workers union boss Dennis Rivera has decided to back Republican John Ravitz for state Senate on Manhattan's East Side, dealing a blow to Democrats' hopes of winning a Feb. 12 special election for the open seat. Rivera's endorsement will be announced today, to coincide with the kickoff of Democrat Liz Krueger's campaign for the seat held for 33 years by Republican Roy Goodman, who quit to join Mayor Bloomberg's administration. ...
Union Nears Hospital Deals
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-01-11/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-137875.asp>
Dave Goldiner, January 11, 2002
The union representing 90,000 New York hospital workers was edging closer to new contracts with 67 private hospitals last night, officials said. Dennis Rivera, the head of Service Employees International Union Local 1199, and Bruce McIver, chief of the League of Voluntary Hospitals, were personally leading the talks, which had been postponed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ...
Rekindling Reform: Health Care for All Will It Ever Be a Reality?
<http://www.nysna.org/publications/report/2002/jan/healthcare_reform.htm>
Anne Schott, New York State Nurses Association, January, 2002
Forty million Americans lack healthcare insurance today and millions more are underinsured. Despite the impact this has on the health of the nation, the last major initiative to address the problem was the comprehensive healthcare reform plan proposed by President Bill Clinton in the early 1990s. But times are changing. The dream of quality health care for all has not died. A new initiative, called ³Rekindling Reform,² is under way. Sponsored by more than 35 organizations, including NYSNA, medical and nursing faculties, and consumer groups, this new effort will begin by reexamining current approaches to health reform in the United States and comparing them to the healthcare systems in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and France. ...
No MD in emerg headache for nurses
An emergency department with no physician during a night shift would burden nurses and erode patient care at Sault Area Hospitals, says the president of Local 46, Ontario Nurses Association. Glenda Hubley, responding to news that as of Feb. 1 the hospital might not have sufficient physician staff to cover its shift between 12 midnight and 8 am, said nurses would be stretched to the limit in caring for patients as well as trying to round up doctors to respond to emergencies, something the hospital has indicated it might have to do. ...
Answering the call for nurses
<http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/1010321712899665.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, January 7, 2002
It's 2 pm Thursday, and the onslaught of telephone calls begins. Hospitals in Portland and across the Northwest are stuffed with sick and injured patients, but short -- as usual -- on full-time registered nurses to tend them. At Stat Medical Services, a temporary staffing agency, a team of eight people responds to the calls for help, tapping at computer keyboards to summon the names of appropriately trained nurses to cover shifts at hospitals and nursing homes. ...
Nurses Act to Hold off Shortage
<http://www.kpam.com>
KPAM's Nevill Eschen, January 7, 2002
Nursing educators are looking at an unhappy future for a lot of old folks in the coming years: there won't be enough nurses to provide care in settings from hospitals to private homes, where having someone check in regularly can keep an older person living independently. The educators figure Oregon will need twice as many nurses as it has now just to keep pace with staffing. They've set a goal of doubling the number of people in nursing schools in Oregon in the next two years. ...
State inspection backs up OHSU nursing claims
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/10104945253058108.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, January 8, 2002
Contrary to the allegations of striking nurses, state hospital inspectors said Monday that they found no safety violations by Oregon Health & Science University during the first three days of a walkout that continued into its 22 day. "The care has been safe," said Dr. Roy Magnusson, medical director for OHSU, the state's busiest medical center. "The health division has validated that with their report." ...
Nurses Dispute Health Services Claims
PORTLAND, Ore.- The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has reviewed the report of the Oregon Department of Human Services, Health Services regarding a complaint filed against Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). The complaint was filed in response to inadequate staffing and inappropriate health care activities at OHSU during the early hours of the strike by registered nurses. The investigation appears superficial: The summary indicates multiple staff were interviewed, however details indicate specific interviews were conducted almost exclusively with nurse managers and administrators; only one patient was interviewed and it was unclear what specific information was requested of that patient. ...
OHSU Nurses File Fourth Complaint against Hospital
<http://www.kpam.com>
KPAM News Staff, January 10, 2002
The union representing Oregon Health and Science University's registered nurses has filed another complaint against the hospital. This is the fourth complaint state labor officials have received criticizing the hospital's alleged tactics during the nurses' strike, and a union spokeswoman says this one was important enough that its negotiators asked for an expedited hearing to air the grievance. The Oregon Labor Relations Board agreed to the expedited hearing but no date has been set. ...
How many health-care studies are there?
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Brian Laghi, Toronto Globe & Mail, January 9, 2002
OTTAWA -- Don Mazankowski's report on medicare in Alberta is the latest in a series that has been pushed forward by Ottawa and various provincial governments. Each commission will undoubtedly affect the political agenda in some way. The Mazankowski report will, for example, still be ringing in Canadians' ears when the country's premiers meet later this month to discuss the issues surrounding health-care financing. ...
Longtime patient notices changes
<http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2002/01/05/opinion/corn05.htm>
Bernadette Foley, Philadelphia, bfoley52@home.com, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 5, 2002
Because of several medical and chronic health conditions, I have been a patient in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) for more times than I can remember over the last 18 years. I'm also a former employee. You ask if there's a relationship between the recent belt-tightening and the hospital's standing in a recent report (Editorial, Dec. 28). From my own recent experience, I would suspect it. I could not believe the change I experienced during a recent visit compared to when I was there a year ago. The staff was so very overworked. There just weren't enough nurses to go around. ...
Nurse shortage to blame for crowded hospitals
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CP, January 10, 2002
Montreal -- Beds lined hospital corridors in many parts of Canada yesterday and others were packed into adjacent emergency wards as health-care facilities struggled to cope with common problems: overcrowding and understaffing. ... A shortage of nurses has been cited as a main cause.
Saskatchewan nurses seek big pay hike as contract talks begin this week
<http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Sask-Nurses-Negotiations.html>
January 6, 2002
REGINA (CP) -- Saskatchewan nurses are expected to demand wage hikes of up to 30 per cent when contract talks begin this week as they seek wage parity with their colleagues in Alberta. A substantial salary increase is needed to retain and recruit nurses as Saskatchewan competes with other provinces for trained staff, says Rosalee Longmoore, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses. ...
RNs, gov't on collision course
Saskatchewan's registered nurses -- fewer in number and busier than when they walked off the job in 1999 -- will lay a hefty wage demand at the feet of their employer Tuesday as the two sides begin work on a new contract. ... Meeting the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses' demand for a 30 per cent wage hike would cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. But if nurses don't get what they want, they could take job action and paralyse the health system as they did during the last talks three years ago. A good agreement may also be crucial in stopping the exodus of nurses to Alberta and other locales. ...
Positive attitude during the first days of Sask. nurse's contract bargaining
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=3A77DB06-CA3E-4993-A427-BFDD7DA6DDB4>
Canadian Press, January 10, 2002
REGINA (CP) - The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has spelled out its new contract demands and, as expected, they include a 30 per cent pay raise. There was a "very positive" attitude toward the first two days of negotiations between the union and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations. But union president Rosalee Longmoore said the two sides have a long road ahead of them. Longmoore said the union's goal is to keep nurses in the province and the pay hike would bring wages in line with those in Alberta. ...
Scandal of NHS beds auction
Thousands of patients are being denied treatment at Britain's top specialist NHS hospitals because priority is being given to people who can afford to pay huge fees for their treatment. An investigation by The Observer has discovered that more than 10,000 private patients were treated last year in the UK's most respected NHS hospitals. Around half the private clients came from overseas and were treated in preference to NHS patients, who were left on the waiting lists. The private patients were treated by the same NHS doctors and nurses, often staying in the same beds and using the same equipment. But they were given preference over NHS patients because they could pay. ...
Plan to drive down nurses' wages
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2002/01/09/FFXWM57K6WC.html>
Meaghan Shaw, The Age, January 9, 2002
Agency nurses would be encouraged to work more shifts because they would be paid less under the Victorian Government's proposed restructure of nurse staffing arrangements. As part of the plan, a centralised statutory authority, Health Purchasing Victoria, would provide agency staff exclusively to public hospitals in Melbourne and Geelong. The government has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to exempt it from prosecution under the Trade Practices Act. ...
Nurses rally for public prisons
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2002/01/09/FFXGJ5DK6WC.html>
Murray Mottram, The Age, January 9, 2002
The nurses' union yesterday joined the State Opposition in accusing the Victorian Government of failing to live up to its election promise of winding back privatisation of the prison system. The state secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, Lisa Fitzpatrick, said the federation was disappointed by the government's $36.5 million, four-year renewal of a contract with Australasian Correctional Management for prison health services. The government had failed to fulfil its promise of returning health services to public hands, she said. ...