Kaiser imposed added staff cuts in the same breath as it announced the “Total Health Incentive Plan” campaign. While it is promoted as voluntary, the program hides the reality of the health of workers and patients sacrificed daily in the name of cost efficiency. Workers realize they risk their own health and the health of their patients when they come to work sick. Yet we are called into disciplinary meetings when we exceed the company set limit in the number of sick days.
Health
Nursing home greed kills children
February 14, 2013For 14 years, Doris Freyre cared for her profoundly disabled daughter in their Tampa, Fla., home. Marie was fed through a feeding tube, and Doris pureed fresh fruits and vegetables for her and made sure her other needs were met. She surrounded Marie with family photos and pictures of angels.
Despite this excellent and loving care, [=>]
July-August 2011 Queer Notes
August 21, 2011by Elise
Students at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Mich., won gender-neutral proms. After Oak Reed, a Transgender boy, was nominated prom King and school administrators threw out the ballots saying Reed is technically a girl, students protested by creating a Facebook page, “Oak is my king,” and passed out petitions.
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The International [=>]
Review of Unplanned
August 4, 2011Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader’s Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert (SaltRiver, 2011).
The religious Right has hailed Unplanned as an anti-abortion classic for a new era. It signals more cooperation between ultra-conservative Catholics and evangelicals. The book claims that newer anti-abortion protesters are non-violent [=>]
$31 ‘crime’ = 10 years
June 3, 2011From the new issue of NEWS & LETTERS, May-June 2011:
$31 ‘crime’ = 10 years
Lawton, Okla.–Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, a 25-year-old nursing home worker and mother of four children, from Kingfisher, Okla., was arrested for selling $31 worth of marijuana to a police informant in December of 2009 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“It [=>]
Nurses demand safety
April 1, 2011Editor’s note: On Jan. 19, after months of inaction regarding the murder of Donna Gross at Napa State Hospital, the workers held a rally. Below we print excerpts from the talks.
Napa, Calif.–As graduating medical students we took an Oath of Hippocrates, with a special obligation not to do harm. Now I am asking the state [=>]
Workshop Talks: Losing nurses and patients for profit
February 17, 2011by Htun Lin
Recently, two nurses were killed on the job by patients at state healthcare facilities in California’s Bay Area. Contrary to management’s attitude, these are not isolated incidents. More than 50% of emergency room nurses, for example, experience violence by patients on the job. For many years, like nurses all across the country, the [=>]
California nurses strike for healthcare
November 14, 2010From the Nov.-Dec. 2010 issue of News & Letters:
California nurses strike for healthcare
California nurses strike for healthcare
Oakland, Cal.–On Oct. 12-14, nurses at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital staged a three-day strike over the proposed takebacks in their healthcare benefits. Practically all the nurses (95%) walked out. Here is what some said:
Martha: I’ve worked at Children’s Hospital, [=>]