Joy In Striking???

[XtREmeRN]

Hello everyone. I would like to express my sadness towards the exuberence displayed at yesterday's vote. Upon the announcement of the collaborative bargaining rejection, several union members erupted in cheer and celebration, one even had the audacity to pass out cigars. As a relatively new RN, it is unfortunate to see such a lack of compassion and the ignorance displayed. Where is the victory? These people malign a profession which should be entrenched with empathy and care. As a PNA member, I am deeply offended and humiliated. Not only are several of our own out of work during the holidays, we are also inadvertently causing layoffs and compromising work hours for other employees? Should we be high-fiving each other and rejoicing? You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Polk County Florida had one of the last nonteaching charity hospitals in the south. Polk General was licensed for (I believe) about 200 beds. It probably delivered 1/3 of the babies in the County. It was located in a poor neighborhood and near a jail. The other private hospital in town was licensed for 60 beds, delivered maybe 100-150 babies a year.

Columbia HCA showed interest for a hospital in Bartow. They checked out PGH and declined it - said that it wasn't what they were looking for and they were not interested in the smaller private hospital. As CON licenses can be difficult to finagle, they had to stay out of the area.

Flash forward - PGH closes, leaving a large empty facility in a poor neighborhood. C-HCA returns, declines that facility but buys the private facility in the nicer neighborhood - within two years, says the facility is too small for the area (with one less hospital in town)and builds a larger facility in a more lucrative location on a major highway.

Of course, it is not Columbia HCA now, it is mariner?Meridian, a "subsidary" of ColumbiaHCA. And it is in a richer place, with more of an insured clientele, or the ever lucrative car crash market.

And the poor of Polk County are still underserved with the not for profit hospitals in the area taking an ever bigger burden of the underinsured. And their are two big buildings left in its wake.

[TartarSauce]

they dropped the columbia name from HCA WHEN ALL THE MEDICARE/MEDICAID FRAUD WAS DISCOVERED IN 1994!

COLUMBIA BOUGHT HCA, BUT THE NAME became HCA due to the above scandal.

HCA IS TRADED ON THE NYSE UNDER the SAME SYMBOL- HCA.

SEN BILL FRIST, MD IS HEIR TO THE HCA FORTUNE.

most of THE BILLS that SEN. bill frist endorse help the american hospital association and the for-profit hospital chains like HCA, HMA, TENET ETC.

THE new laws: FED. ER CARE STANDARds(EMTALA.COM) AND THE MEDICARE REFORM BILL TOO WILL BENEFIT BIG HOSPITALS.

larger reimbursements for hospitals in 2006.

it is all about $$$$$$~

[Owney]

You all need to read the string Retaining workers key to solving nursing shortage.

:kiss

[SmilingBluEyes]

...so where is the OP now???????

still believe nurses "ought be ashamed" for such outlandish behavior as striking???

i would love to hear back from the OP on this after this thread has come thus far.

[fab4fan]

Ditto, Deb.