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Support
Brockton Hospital Nurses
Dear Mr. Goodman,
Your labor strike has continued now for more than 40 days. The St.
Vincent's Hospital Nurses strike was reported to have cost the facility
more than 6 million dollars for replacement nurses in a strike of
similar length. With what you are spending on the nurse replacements
in this labor conflict one could reasonably assume that it could
pay for the appropriate staffing to avoid mandatory overtime and
implementation of the nurses reasonable proposals to have adequate
staffing to care for patients on each and every patient care unit
at your facility. This would avoid the destructive practice of mandatory
overtime. Mandatory overtime is a dangerous practice. It is linked
to provider fatigue and adverse patient outcomes. This has been documented
in many studies of which you are well aware. That is why I find your
continued insistence for a contract agreement without a commitment
by the hospital to provide staffing levels which would eliminate
mandatory overtime and create positive patient outcomes so indefensible!
I urge you to settle and to use the good offices of Senator Kerry
and Kennedy to broker an agreement which is in the interest of the
Brockton community and safe patient care. Your facility is taking
a position that is abhorrent to the citizen's of the Commonwealth.
We want care providers who are of sufficient numbers to help us heal,
and whose energy levels and judgments are not compromised by prolonged
working hours imposed by mandatory overtime.
Your positions do not provide for patient safety, comfort or care.
Its time to agree to the Brockton Hospital Nurses positions.
Sincerely Yours
James G. Moura RN
To Norman Goodman, CEO:
Shame on you that you care so little about your
employees that they had to go out on strike. If your workers – the
people who make the hospital function and who care for the patients
- are
that un-important to you, imagine how little you must care about
the patients.
This situation is making the community rethink its attitude about
your hospital. Perhaps you should consider bringing about a fair
and speedy settlement of the strike before too much damage is done
to your reputation.
Debbie
Dear Mr. Goodman:
I pass by your hospital and mine everyday. It upsets me too see
the nurse's
still out on the picket line at all hours, fighting for better
working
conditions that ultimately means a safer environment for the patients.
I
have lived in Brockton for over thirty years, and am approaching
the age when
the likely hood of me needing to be hospitalized increases with
each passing
year. I have had good experiences in the past in your ER and X-ray
departments. I also know that your employee's are dedicated, work
hard long
hours, and provide a great service to this community. I urge you
too sit
down at the table again with your nurse's and resolve the issue
of mandatory
overtime and salary. This is not the first time I have seen them
out on the
streets fighting for quality care. I seem to recall not too long
ago that
they were informational picketing, and that they promised this
community that
they would be back out picketing, if the working environment didn't
improve
at your hospital. I also recall at that time, I think about two
or three
years ago, that they were carrying signs protesting the over use
of mandatory
overtime. I can assure you, that as long as this strike continues,
I will go
else where for my medical care, and I know I am not alone. Nurses
everywhere
are faced with the same problems. Until hospital administrators
admit there
is a problem, and commit themselves to finding a solution, the
quality of
health care will continue too decline, and the nursing shortage
will only
worsen. I would not want the responsibility these dedicated professionals
face on a daily basis, working understaffed, sick, and exhausted
from working
too many hours at a job that under the best of conditions is stressful,
just
because of the nature of the job.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Knight
Mr. Goodman,
I have read the Enterprise and seen your ads. Does it not bother
you to lie to the public about what is really taking place and
what you are really ready to agree to? I personally know nurses
on the committee and what you are publishing is not the truth.
You may have ranked 10th in the nation but who the heck do you
think got that rating for you. The Nurses that's who. These same
women whom you have no respect for. Mandate them to double shifts.
So what if they are exhausted. So what if they dragged themselves
in, not feeling well, because they care about other nurses. So
what if they have children to pick up from day care. So what if
they have a spouse who has to go into work late because his wife
isn't home to get the kids off to school. So what if the evening
nurse is up 24 hours before you send her out on the road to drive.
The worst so what is about the care and the potential of medical
errors for the patient. You know the patient, who by choosing your
hospital, pays your salary and recent 27% bonus. I don't see you
refusing that lovely bonus, but to initially offer a 1% salary
increase to the nurses is a slap in the face. Mandatory overtime
is simply put, ABUSE. Ironic that your name is Goodman and you
are an abuser.
Sincerely,
Peggy
Dear Mr. Goodman,
Polling indicates that the profession which the public ranks #1
in terms of trustworthiness is that of Registered Nurse.
In a movie made from a John Grisham novel a few years back, the
shadowy, reptilian villain was...an HMO executive. (In the eyes
of the public: hospital CEO...HMO CEO...you're interchangeable.)
Nurses don't choose this profession to get rich. They choose it
because it pays the bills and because providing health care directly
to people is gratifying to them.
Your nurses are reasonable people. Please make a reasonable compromise
with them.
Otherwise, what you will face (as happened here
in Worcester) is vilification in your community, lost productivity,
skyrocketing
expenses if you hire "scab" replacements, political isolation,
eventually the opportunity to rationalize your position to your
U.S. Senator and Congressman, etc.
Regards,
Mr. J. Healey
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