Community Rally for Waltham Hospital's Future
WHO: Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital, a broad grassroots organization and campaign to save the Deaconess Waltham from closure and to protect the health care delivery system in the Greater Waltham area.
WHAT: Community Rally and Forum for the citizens of Waltham and employees/patients of Waltham Hospital to stop the closing of this vital community resource and explore viable options for allowing the hospital to remain open.
Speakers and invited guests include medical staff, employees, patients, elected officials, gubernatorial and other statewide candidates, union representatives and community leaders.
WHERE: John F. Kennedy Memorial Middle School
655 Lexington Street
Waltham, Massachusetts
WHEN: 7:00 PM, Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Attention Health Care Activists and Advocates and Concerned Citizens:
A Campaign Has Been Launched to Save Waltham Hospital!
<http://www.massnurses.org/News/020100/Waltham.html>
The MNA has joined hundreds of employees, physicians, citizens, local and state political leaders and citizens to form a coalition to SAVE WALTHAM HOSPITAL, which has been slated for closure by CareGroup within the next 90 days. A press conference by the coalition held on Thursday has drawn attention to the cause of this crisis for the Waltham community, as well as surrounding communities as this 115 year-old health care safety net faces extinction, raising the specter of thousands of citizens being denied access to care in their own community, dramatically increasing ER diversions throughout the region, and eliminated 48 desperately needed psychiatric beds, and a state-of-the- art cancer center.
The MNA calls upon fellow health care, labor and community activists to support the coalition's efforts to keep this facility open.
Chain of weakening links:
Observers wonder if independence would better serve hospitals
<http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/hosp01142002.htm>
Jennifer Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, January 14, 2002
The flagship hospital of the state's second-largest hospital system is losing millions monthly, another of its six hospitals plans to close and two others are struggling. Can CareGroup survive the turmoil, or should the hospitals go their separate ways? ³What is CareGroup doing at this point? Not much, so these hospitals might do fine on their own,² said Steve Weiner, a Boston health care attorney. Only two of its six hospitals - New England Baptist Hospital and Mount Auburn Hospital - made money on operations in fiscal 2000. The system's largest hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess, lost $50 million in fiscal 2000 and an estimated $67 million last year. Deaconess-Waltham officials said Friday they will close the hospital in the face of an $8 million loss for this year. Deaconess-Glover and Deaconess-Nashoba have also been struggling with losses. ...
Local officials express disappointment at hospital closure
<http://www.townonline.com/33663692.htm>
Patrick Golden, MetroWest Daily News, January 14, 2002
WALTHAM - The impending closing of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital has left local officials disappointed and upset and emergency care workers scrambling to figure out how they will compensate. The 116-year-old Hope Avenue institution will close within the next few months, sharing the same fate as many other community-based hospitals across the state. News of the closing came as a surprise to many, who didn't expect such a drastic measure would arrive so soon. Talk of the hospital's staggering financial losses were no secret, but plans were in the works to avoid closing. ...
Hospital network could be split up
The trustees of CareGroup Healthcare System, the state's second-largest hospital and physician system, are considering breaking up the network, one of dozens formed during the 1990s as a better way to provide health care. John Hamill, chairman of the board, confirmed that the group has formed a restructuring committee. ''We're looking at all different options with hospitals that are part of CareGroup,'' he said. ''Everything is on the table for consideration. It does not mean a decision has been made.'' Another person involved in the decision said that ''breaking up CareGroup is a possible option,'' and that trustees are analyzing whether various hospitals can survive independently or attract interest from buyers. CareGroup is the major competitor to Partners HealthCare, the parent company of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital and the largest system in the state. ...
Loss of psychiatric beds at threatened unit decried
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/017/metro/Loss_of_psychiatric_beds_at_threatened_unit_decriedP.shtml>
Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe, January 17, 2002
The planned closing of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital would eliminate 42 inpatient beds set aside for mental health care at a time of serious shortages of facilities for psychiatric patients. CareGroup, which owns Deaconess-Waltham and five other area hospitals, plans to close the financially troubled hospital in April, taking away facilities that admit 1,600 patients a year with eating disorders, substance abuse problems, and psychiatric illnesses. ...
Little left to be done to save hospital (sic)
The prognosis for Deaconess-Waltham Hospital can't get much grimmer. Despite cries of protest by doctors and loyal patients, desperate resolutions by the Waltham City Council, and sympathy from state officials, the hospital probably will close without a buyer. And as of this week, there were no takers for the 163-bed community hospital. Its owner, CareGroup - which owns a handful of hospitals in Massachusetts including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston - says Deaconess-Waltham cannot survive in today's competitive and volatile health-care market. By dismissing the hospital's board of trustees on Friday and setting the clock ticking with a formal 90-day closure notice to the state, CareGroup basically pulled the plug. If the hospital closes, it will shutter a Waltham institution that has been open for 116 years, and could cost 1,200 people their jobs. ...
In saving hospital, others at risk
<http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/hosp01182002.htm>
Jennifer Heldt Powell, Boston Herald, January 18, 2002
While moving to close its Waltham unit, health care giant CareGroup Inc. is also eying options for two other struggling ³community² hospitals, sources said yesterday. Investment bank Salomon Smith Barney is evaluating options and could wind up shopping for a buyer for CareGroup's smallest operations, the Deaconess-Glover and Deaconess-Nashoba hospitals, sources said. But the options under review are also said to include finding a capital partner to keep the hospitals going as part of CareGroup. Salomon was also hired to help CareGroup find a buyer for Deaconess-Waltham Hospital, but failed. CareGroup trustees voted last week to close the 163-bed hospital in April. Yesterday, Waltham staff and community leaders rallied as ³The Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital,² launching an effort to prevent its shutdown. Employees, doctors and community leaders said they refuse to give up hope. ...
Residents rally to save hospital
<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/waltdeaconess01182002.htm>
Patrick Golden, MetroWest Daily News, January 18, 2002
WALTHAM - An upbeat contingent of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital staffers and local and state officials kicked off a "Save Waltham Hospital" effort with a rally yesterday. More than 150 people braved chilly, damp conditions outside the hospital's main entrance on Hope Avenue and cheered fervently as advocates of the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital pledged to keep the hospital from closing. ... Speakers ranging from politicians to patients took a turn at a makeshift podium to make the plea for keeping Deaconess-Waltham operational. ... Many of yesterday's speakers lashed out at CareGroup, Deaconess-Waltham's parent company. The health care network has been criticized locally for not doing enough to keep the hospital afloat. ... "We refuse to become collateral damage in the financial implosion that is CareGroup," said Dr. Richard Lyons, the hospital's chief of emergency services. ... "They don't care and they're not a group," said state Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln. ...
End of an era in health care (sic):
Waltham hospital has history of taking care of the community
<http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/walthospitalhistory01212002.htm>
Patrick Golden, MetroWest Daily News, January 21, 2002
WALTHAM - As the Ides of October crept past in 1887, Henry T. Day was in rough shape. His body temperature climbed past 103 degrees and he complained of acute pain and swelling in his torso. The Waltham Cottage Hospital worked swifty, opening an abscess on his body to relieve the pressure. By Oct. 28, Day was on his way home, feeling much relieved. This treatment carries special significance because it is the hospital's first recorded inpatient entry. The fledgling hospital, which has since weathered expansions and name changes, sprung from humble beginnings. But for the first time in the city's history, folks like Henry Day had a place to go when sickness, injury or disease struck. It's been a place where Waltham residents have been born, treated and died. ...
Soldiers¹ Home cuts protested
<http://www.gazettenet.com/01212002/news/10724.htm>
Associated Press, January 21, 2002
HOLYOKE (AP) - More than 150 veterans and their supporters braved freezing temperatures Saturday morning to demonstrate on behalf of the Soldiers' Home here and its quest for more than $900,000 in additional state funding. Demonstrators called on acting Gov. Jane Swift, House Speaker Thomas Finneran, and other state officials to meet the home's 2002 fiscal year budget request of almost $17.5 million. ...
Hospital Trustees Respond to Storm Created by Resignation of Top Surgeon; Blame Difficulties on Changing Climate
<http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2002/01/18/hospital_trustees.php>
Julia Wells, Martha¹s Vineyard, January 18, 2002
Trustees at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital scrambled to contain the damage this week in the aftermath of last week's announcement by a respected Vineyard surgeon that he will sever his contract with the hospital. ...
Online Petition to Keep the Koehlers
<http://www.mvol.com/News/local/index5.php>
Martha¹s Vineyard Online, January 21, 2002
Last week Dr. Richard Koehler submitted a letter of resignation to the management of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. ... (O)ne group of concerned citizens has put up a web-based petition calling for the Board to reject Dr. Koehler's resignation and to take action to retain Dr. Koehler on staff and address the other problems at the hospital. This petition can be found at: <www.hospital-petition.vineyard.net>
Petition to Keep the Koehlers
This site is sponsored by an informal group of concerned citizens.
We, the undersigned, respectfully urge the Board of Trustees of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital to reject Dr. Richard Koehler's recent letter of resignation and to facilitate a mediation process aimed at keeping him on staff. In addition we urge the Board to mediate a fair and equitable contract for the Hospital Nurses as soon as possible, and to take immediate and long term action aimed at improving staff morale and relations at the Hospital.
Cronin: Health system still providing quality care
<http://www.berkshireeagle.com/default.asp?article=on&spuid=2182&article=on>
Susan Bush, Berkshire Eagle, January 16, 2002
NORTH ADAMS -- While Northern Berkshire Health Systems grapples with a $1.9 million loss, patients continue to receive quality care regardless of ability to pay, and will continue to have access to those services, NBHS officials promised yesterday. ...
N. Berkshire Health Systems reports red ink
<http://www.berkshireeagle.com/default.asp?article=on&spuid=2182&article=on>
Susan Bush, Berkshire Eagle Staff, January 16, 2002
NORTH ADAMS -- Northern Berkshire Health Systems saw a marginal profit for fiscal year 2000 plummet to a $1.9 million loss in fiscal year 2001, chief executive officer John C.J. Cronin announced yesterday. The health systems' budget had been based on revenues of $56.5 million. NBHS serves as the parent company for North Adams Regional Hospital, the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Northern Berkshire, Sweet Brook Care Centers, the Sweetwood retirement community, and the REACH Community Health Foundation. ...
NBHS posts $1.9 million loss
<http://www.thetranscript.com/Stories/0,1002,9049%257E339427,00.html>
Karen Gardner, North Adams Transcript, January 17, 2002
NORTH ADAMS -- A year after posting a modest profit, Northern Berkshire Health Systems is reporting a loss of almost $2 million for the past fiscal year. Officials said a drop in Medicaid reimbursements was primarily to blame. ... Last November's layoffs, which affected about 18 full-time equivalents out of the total workforce of approximately 440 and including about 11 registered nurses, are expected to reduce the hospital's costs over this fiscal year. ...
Children's cases from Mass. General reviewed
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the cases of 12 to 15 children treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for breathing problems over the last 20 years, to determine whether they may have been the victims of child abuse. The review reopens a longstanding debate over concerns raised by a former Mass. General pediatrician, Dr. Thomas Truman. Since the 1980s, he has been urging authorities to take a closer look at the cases, in which he believed parents may have been deliberately causing their children's medical problems. ...
Job fair woos nurses
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=402D8BD8-20F8-454A-9373-6A93D6B4C6F9>
Kathy Tait, The Province, January 15, 2002
It was like music to their ears. Full-time jobs. Much better money. Complete health benefits from Day 1. Job satisfaction. Free specialty training if they so desire. Dozens of BC nurses listened with smiles on their faces as Rocky Hanak, the big guy in the black Stetson at head table, charmed them with his sweet words and Texas drawl. ...
Tempting bait set for nurses
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=436D9081-8A6F-4DAD-A25A-C275F54AD812>
Louise Dickson, Victoria Times Colonist, January 17, 2002
"We're level one trauma, comprehensive cancer. We're a magnet hospital for nursing excellence. We have a very high level of professional practice." Dorothy Jones eagerly extolled the virtues of the North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC, at the nursing career fair at Laurel Point Inn Saturday morning. As nursing students from across Canada drifted by her booth, Jones was able to tell them about the hospital's continuing education program, relocation assistance of $2,500 US, salary and benefits. The students are in Victoria attending the 30th Canadian Nursing Students' Association National Conference. ...
Nurses call for action on union election
<http://www.uniontrib.com/news/northcounty/20020116-9999_1mi16nurses.html>
John Berhman, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 16, 2002
POWAY -- Pro-union nurses in the Palomar Pomerado Health system say the district is trying to delay an election which would determine whether the California Nurses Association represents them. About 20 nurses, some of them in uniform, attended Monday night's meeting of the hospital district's board wearing buttons that said Election Now, and several of them complained to the panel. "Unfortunately, with this board you have to go public and raise a stink before it will take action," Susan McGuire, a critical-care nurse at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, said yesterday. ...
California Nears Implementation of Nation's First Safe Staffing Law
Nurse-to-Patient Ratios 'Best Solution' for Nursing Shortage
California is on the verge of implementation of a groundbreaking law that should have a dramatic impact on reducing the hospital nursing shortage and improving patient care conditions in hospitals. Nurses, patient advocacy groups, and legislators across the country who are alarmed by the growing nursing care crisis are watching closely the anticipated implementation of the nation's first minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for hospitals in California. The ratios are mandated as a result of legislation, AB 394, sponsored by the California Nurses Association and signed by Governor Gray Davis in 1999. Under the law, California is to have ratios after January 1, 2002. An announcement is pending from the state Department of Health Services, which is charged by the law with setting the specific ratios. ...
Nurses ratify union contract
<http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2002-01-17/health.asp>
Tom Gascoyne, Chico News & Review, January 17, 2002
Nearly 13 months after negotiations began, Enloe Medical Center's registered nurses have a union contract whose details suggest the nurses were indeed more interested in improving working conditions than in increasing their wages. On Thursday, Jan. 10, the negotiators for each side finally came to an agreement, and four days later the nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify it. ...
Fresno County nurses OK strike as talks stall
<http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1484755p-1561436c.html>
Jim Davis, The Fresno Bee, January 18, 2002
Nurses who work for Fresno County authorized a strike on Thursday because of a lack of progress in negotiating a new contract. The nurses' bargaining team will decide today when to call a strike, but the team will wait until after a meeting with county representatives. "If we deadlock [today] and they say, 'We're not budging another inch,' we won't hesitate. We'll give the strike notice," said Don Nielsen of the California Nurses Association, which represents the county nurses. ...
States looking to cut Medicaid costs
WASHINGTON Medicaid, the insurance program for 44 million low-income people, is in a fiscal crisis, forcing state legislatures convening around the United States this month to look for ways to cut benefits and reduce payments to hospitals, nursing homes, and pharmacies. The 36-year-old program, which pays for one-third of all births and nearly two-thirds of all nursing-home patients, is caught in the financial vise of soaring costs and declining state revenues. ...
Overworked force
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/jobs/chi-0201160155jan16.story>
T. Shawn Taylor, Chicago Tribune, January 16, 2002
Mandatory overtime contributes to increased mistakes and injuries on the job, and costs employers between $150 and $300 billion dollars a year in fatigue- and stress-related problems by employees who work long hours, according to "Time After Time: Mandatory Overtime in the US Economy," a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute. Many employers are cutting hours due to the recession. But in fields with consistent labor shortages, like health care, employers continue to require workers to work more hours rather than hire new employees or raise wages. ...
Panel: Raise Medicare; Bush plans cuts
<http://www.telegram.com/news/inside/nmedicare.html>
Robert Pear, The New York Times, January 21, 2002
WASHINGTON-- A federal advisory commission is recommending the government increase Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals, home care agencies and some nursing homes, even as President Bush prepares to send Congress a budget that would squeeze billions of dollars from Medicare by limiting payments to health care providers. The influential panel said cutting payments, or even continuing them at current levels, could jeopardize access to care for the elderly and disabled. ...
French doctors start week of strikes
French health workers have kicked off a week of industrial action which is expected to bring unprecedented disruption to the country's medical services. A national strike of hospital workers was called on Monday to protest about staff shortages after the introduction of a 35-hour working week. The disruption is set to continue on Tuesday as nurses take to the streets, and will culminate on Wednesday with a call for a "day without doctors," which has received widespread support throughout the medical professions. ...
Terror crackdown 'encourages repression'
America's response to the September 11 attacks is encouraging its allies to pursue repressive policies which will fuel terrorism rather than defeat it, a leading human rights group warned yesterday. Dictators "need do nothing more than photocopy" measures introduced by the Bush administration, whose ability to criticise abuses in other countries was thus deeply compromised, said the New York-based Human Rights Watch in a devastating 660-page report. "Terrorists believe anything goes in the name of their cause," said Kenneth Roth, its executive director. "The fight against terror must not buy into that logic. [It] must reaffirm the principle that no civilian should ever be deliberately killed or abused. But for too many countries, the anti-terror mantra has provided a new reason to ignore human rights." ...
Death from overwork recognized as work-related for the first time under discretionary work system
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2269/death.html>
The Central Labor Standards Inspection Office(CLSIO) has canceled its previous decision and recognized the death of a former employee of Kobunsha, a publishing house in Tokyo, as work-related. Tatsu Wakiyama was 24 years old when he died apparently from overwork. On January 15, the CLSIO informed Yamawaki's parents that the Workers' Accident Compensation Insurance should be applied for him. It is the first time that a worker's death has been recognized as a death from overwork under the discretionary work system which was introduced in 1998. ...
Insurance cover in South Korea for boozing with the boss
<http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020121/1/2c420.html>
AFP, January 21, 2002
Illness caused by widespread work-related drinking is to be treated as an industrial accident under a new insurance system to be introduced in South Korea. After hours drinking with the boss or clients is an established part of South Korean corporate culture and is even encouraged by some companies to strengthen team spirit. It has caused chaos with family life as well as the health of executives. But new rules outlined Monday -- which come into force in March -- will expand the scope of work-related conditions covered by industrial accident insurance, the Labor Ministry said. "If work-related drinking causes serious health problems, you'll be covered," a ministry official told AFP. ...
Take a minute to offer support to a nurse or CNA
<http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?ID=48923>
Jason Johnson, Bangor News, January 14, 2002
I would like to comment on the article printed in the Dec. 31 edition of the Bangor Daily News titled, ³Hospitals sweeten pot for nurses.² While I think it is commendable that hospitals throughout Maine are attempting to reduce the vacancy rate through active recruitment and retention programs, such as tuition reimbursement, pay increases and hiring bonuses, I believe one of the main reasons for the vacancies is something which cannot be solved by simply using more money as an incentive. My wife has been employed in health care for several years as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and now as a registered nurse (RN) at a hospital in Bangor. In approximately six years of employment she has been struck by patients, kicked and urinated on. ...
Medicaid Patients Dread New Program
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12730-2002Jan21.html>
Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press, January 21, 2002
LANSING, Mich. Tom Gadowski takes seven medications to treat his manic depression, spending $1,100 a month for an assortment of pills meant to fend off panic attacks, violent outbursts and suicidal thoughts. "I've been on everything, and what I'm on right now seems to have me most stable," he said. That stability may soon be shaken. Gadowski, who is unemployed and has about half his drug costs paid for by Medicaid, could find his medical regimen changed under a new Michigan law aimed at cutting the amount the state spends on drug costs. ...
Union head supports a law to require staffing standards for nursing homes
<http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/TodayTuesday/86256A0E0068FE5086256B420041BC53?OpenDocument&PubWrapper=Metro>
Bill Smith, The Post-Dispatch, January 15, 2002
A law requiring minimum staffing standards in nursing homes is crucial if Missouri is to avert an "incredible crisis" in the care of the state's aging population, the head of a union representing nursing home aides said Monday. "It is reaching the point where our parents and grandparents will be at risk," said Grant Williams, president of Local 2000 of the Service Employees International Union. The local represents some 1,800 nursing home workers statewide - most in the St. Louis area. Williams, state Rep. Joan Barry, D-Oakville, and several area nursing home workers on Monday announced support for a bill to require more nursing home workers. Barry is drafting a bill to set minimum staffing. She said she hopes it will be signed by the governor this year. ...
New hospitals face staffing woes
A critical shortage of nurses plagues the Las Vegas Valley at a time when hospital construction is booming, and projections show that the shortage may continue at a crisis level for at least five years. Five hospitals -- with a total of 676 additional beds -- are being developed for the Las Vegas Valley with a sixth on the drawing board, but Clark County already has problems finding enough nurses to run the current nine full-service medical facilities. And health administrators fear new regulations in California, which would mandate fewer patients per nurse in hospitals, could drain workers from Nevada's nursing pool, exacerbating the problem. ...
Albany Seeks Health Care Deal
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-stheal132549130jan13.story>
Jordan Rau, Newsday, January 13, 2002
Albany - Even before they grapple with the largest budget shortfall in seven years, Gov. George Pataki and lawmakers are trying to work out a deal that would spend $700 million over the next three years to raise the salaries of health care workers and help hospitals train and recruit more employees. The plan, which Pataki and the Legislature may agree on this week, relies on a $1-billion payment by a private insurer, increasing cigarette taxes by 39 cents a pack, to $1.50, and complex maneuvering to wring hundreds of millions more from the federal government. Along with the health care raises and recruitment efforts, the money would help pay for prescription drugs for the elderly and for AIDS treatment. ...
Labor Pains at Hospital
Interns and residents in their first union battle with a North Bronx hospital say they are losing their patience. Their two-year effort to win a contract with Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center is now before a federal mediator, but several of the 117 unionized residents staged an informational picket line outside the hospital last week, calling for face-to-face talks. ...
Even by Albany's standards, the health package is a real backroom deal
<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/015/region/Even_by_Albany_s_standards_the:.shtml>
Joel Stashenko, Associated Press, January 15, 2002
ALBANY, NY (AP) Even by the standards of the New York state Capitol, where nearly everything of substance is decided in backrooms, the negotiations over the multi-billion-dollar health care plan were extraordinarily secretive. Gov. George Pataki made only a vague reference in his 2002 State of the State speech on Jan. 9 to the health care plan, though it may well end up being his most significant legislative initiative of the year. Pataki told lawmakers last week of the need for bipartisan support to ''increase staffing in our health care facilities, make our hospitals and nursing homes stronger and protect the quality of care our loved ones receive.'' ...
Labor leader Rivera becomes the ''guy to see''
<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/016/region/Labor_leader_Rivera_becomes_th:.shtml>
Marc Humbert, Associated Press, January 16, 2002
ALBANY, NY (AP) Hospital workers union leader Dennis Rivera, who moved to New York City from his native Puerto Rico just 24 years ago, has become ''the single most important kingmaker in New York politics,'' one top political operative said Wednesday. ''When he speaks, Albany doesn't just listen, it acts,'' said Howard Wolfson, a key adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's successful US Senate race two years ago. ...
Nurses to reveal new strike plans this afternoon
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=636562&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
New Zealand Herald, January 15, 2002
Canterbury nurses and hospital staff will reveal this afternoon details of further strike action by 3200 staff of the Canterbury District Health Board. "Details will be released at 2 pm today and the strike action will be of an escalated nature compared to the 48-hour strike taken last month," Nurses Organisation spokeswoman Chris Wilson told NZPA. Nurses and staff at all 16 Canterbury hospitals have given their support to continued industrial action over their collective contracts, after rejecting an average 4 per cent wage increase. ...
Possible health truce on horizon
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1070823a10,FF.html>
Stuff.com, 17 January 2002
A settlement could be near in Canterbury's health war as negotiators reached a provisional agreement late last night. Marathon mediation talks between the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) and New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) ended just before midnight with the union agreeing to put a new deal to members. ...
Canterbury's mental health row settled
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=787290&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
New Zealand Herald, January 21, 2002
The industrial dispute threatening mental health services in Canterbury has been settled. The dispute - affecting 1200 nurses and mental health staff at Hillmorton (formerly Sunnyside) and Princess Margaret Hospitals - was settled this afternoon. The workers have accepted a board pay rise offer of 4 1/2 per cent. Some will get more and there will be increased weekend allowances and leave. This dispute was settled after a proposal put up at two days of mediation late last week was accepted by a majority of the workers at a meeting today. ...
Strike: Public Hospitals In Southeast Discharge Patients
<http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news2/nn845508.html>
Victor Onyeka-Ben, Nigeria Guardian, January 13, 2002
ENUGU - TO forestall high incidence of deaths resulting further from the on-going strike of Medical and Heath Workers' Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), public hospitals in the five Southeast States have hurriedly discharged their patients to enable them seek medical attention elsewhere. It was learnt that of the 100 patients at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, 94 patients including wife of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, chairman of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC), were last Friday morning discharged leaving behind only six patients whose cases are no longer considered as requiring emergency attention. ...
Niagara nurses vote 98% to accept new pact
NIAGARA FALLS - If Niagara's hospital nurses provide any indication of how others across the province feel about a tentative contract agreement, labour unrest among Ontario's nurses should cease - at least for the next three years. Niagara's 1,500 hospital nurses voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of the new contract agreement, said Jo-Anne Shannon, Niagara Health System bargaining unit president for the Ontario Nurses Association. ...
No negotiations for OHSU, nurses this week
<http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?
/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/10108401325004163.xml>
01/12/02
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian. January 12, 2002
Negotiations between striking registered nurses and Oregon Health & Science University fell silent this week, as the walkout reached its 27th day. Union nurses accused the medical center of unfair labor practices and repeated allegations of unsafe patient care by replacement staff. ...
ONE WHO STAYED: Nurse never considered protesting but finds it hard to keep working
<http://www.oregonlive.com/morenews/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/10108401455004214.xml>
The Oregonian, January 13, 2002
Suzie Brennan was never in doubt about where she would be on Day One of the strike. She would don her scrubs -- the greens or the blues, whichever came out of the wash that week -- and drive up the hill to OHSU Hospital. She would disregard the taunts of her striking co-workers and cross the picket line to work in 7A, the trauma/neurosurgical intensive care unit. "I don't believe in strikes," Brennan said. "I use the analogy of my 2-year-old son throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way. That's kind of how I view a strike." ...
ONE WHO WALKED: First-time striker loves job but wants more recognition and more money
<http://www.oregonlive.com/morenews/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/10108401455004215.xml>
The Oregonian, January 13, 2002
On Dec. 17, Kristen Kidd joined a picket line for the first time in her life. Kidd's nursing degree is from Oregon Health & Science University. She has worked there six years, most recently in the trauma/neurosurgical intensive care unit. Her husband, Fritz, is a urology resident at OHSU. Her aunt is an OHSU hospital administrator. And now Kidd has been outside the building, on strike, waving a sign that socked it to her employer. "It's a neat place to work," said Kidd, 28. "But it's gotten to the point where you always seem to be one nurse short." ...
Nurses, OHSU agree to more talks through state mediator
<http://www.oregonlive.com/morenews/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/10110993264442112.xml>
The Oregonian, January 15, 2002
Leaders of striking nurses and the Oregon Health & Science University agreed Monday to resume talks through a state mediator Wednesday. Most of the 1,500 registered nurses employed by OHSU have been on strike since Dec. 17. They are seeking higher wages and improved health coverage. ...
Hospital, nurses halt negotiations
<http://www.oregonlive.com/morenews/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/101127217111119211.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, January 17, 2002
Striking nurses and leaders of Oregon Health & Science University broke off negotiations late Wednesday as the strike passed day 31. No new talks are scheduled. Union leaders said they would hold out until OHSU agrees to put more money on the table for a two-year contract. Nurses also are pushing the medical center to improve health coverage and drop its proposed limits on union communications in the workplace, said Kathleen Sheridan, negotiator for the Oregon Nurses Association. ...
Nurses¹ walkout putting a dent in OHSU budget
Oregon Health & Science University has spent at least $500,000 a week, or almost $2.5 million over budget, for replacement nurses and other strike-related expenses in the month since more than 1,000 OHSU nurses went on strike Dec. 17. And as the strike drags on, OHSU¹s costs continue to mount ‹ although none of those costs are paid out of public funds, the university said. OHSU actually has spent more than $4 million on replacement nurses, said Aaron Crane, chief financial officer for the school¹s hospitals and clinics. However, the hospital is not paying the nurses who are on strike, nor paying for their benefits. ...
The Private Sector: Needed -- Work environment that supports nursing excellence
<http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20020122forumsaunders0122p2.asp>
Rosanne Clementi Saunders, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 22, 2002
Many Pennsylvania nurses would rather not be nurses. Recently, the local media reported the results of a survey in which more than half of the 6,000 nurses who responded to the survey said they would not choose nursing as a profession if they could choose again. Nearly half said they intend to leave nursing. ... The numbers are significant and particularly alarming, because of the shortage of nurses. ... This complex issue deserves the sustained attention of not just health-care executives but also elected officials, the philanthropic and corporate community, educational leaders and the public. ...
Portugal Makes Anti-Abortion Ruling
<http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-portugal-abortion-trial0118jan18.story>
Nick Wilson, Associated Press, January 18, 2002
MAIA, Portugal -- A court on Friday convicted a nurse of performing illegal abortions and found one woman guilty of terminating her pregnancy, crimes in Portugal where laws regarding abortion are among Europe's strictest. Abortion is illegal in this mostly Roman Catholic country except under strictly defined medical circumstances or in rape cases. It is banned in all cases after the 12th week of a pregnancy. Abortion rights activists say about 16,000 illegal abortions are performed each year in Portugal, a nation of 10.3 million people. ...
Milburn's hospital reforms meet union opposition
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Staff and agencies, The Guardian, January 15, 2002
Plans unveiled today to encourage charities and the private sector to bid for "franchises" to take over failing hospitals have drawn an angry response from union leaders. They also criticised plans by the health secretary, Alan Milburn, to give managers of successful "three-star" NHS hospitals the opportunity to set up not-for-profit companies to run their trusts free from government interference. Those hospitals would still be subject to national standards and external inspections but managers would otherwise have independence in all areas, including staff pay and conditions. ...