TartarSauce

check to see if you have any short term disability with any of your PRIVATE insurers. ALSO, check out any private malpractice coverage you may have. some include earning supplements. ******************* US DEPARTMENT of Labor: Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations: A Report on the Department of Labor's Request for Information http://www.dol.gov/federalregister/Search/GetHtml.aspx?DocID=13007

Pell Grants Too

HEY NURSES IN CA... did katie holmes ever have a baby? where is she? thanks betty

i didn't get an answer!

what are the wages for nurses from the FOR-PROFIT HEALTH CARE CONTRACTORS? these companies takeover healthcare for the state and county jails/prisons. the likes of CMS, PHS, ARMOR and PrimeCare medical.

who regulates the jailhouse healthcare? the dept of justice or the dept of health?

Has anyone worked for armor correctional health services inc, of coconut creek, fl? are they a decent for-profit company to work for?

i'm interested in an RN position at armor correctional health services, inc. in ft lauderdale how many inmates am i responsible for? is the salary good? is the company ok or is it like PHS?

SAINTHOOD ELLUDES THIS THOMAS" AUGUST 2004 As many as 300 to 500 Saint Thomas employees face layoffs while their well-paid boss says he's "praying" for them By Matt Pulle **Before the nonprofit Saint Thomas held a series of meetings last week about the possibility of imminent mass layoffs Saint Thomas Health Services CEO Thomas Beeman penned a message to his staff. "It is my intent, each day, to pray for all of you," he wrote in a company newsletter. "Pray each day for each other. In your prayers, I hope you will ask for God's guidance to assure that we are continuing to work within His will." They're going to need all the help they can get. That's because Saint Thomas may "right-size" its payroll. Last week, hospital president Deb German led a round of in-house meetings during which she noted that because of flat revenues and declining patient volumes, the hospital would be looking at reducing staff-to-patient ratios from six-to-one to five-to-one. That could mean pink slips for 300 to 500 employees-making it the largest area hospital layoff in recent memory. Hospital officials, however, are considering reducing overtime pay and eliminating unfilled positions to help offset layoffs. Saint Thomas spokeswoman Rebecca Climer would not confirm or deny the number of projected layoffs, but did acknowledge that the hospital is looking at "a number of different alternatives." As German, however, tried to put a happy spin on her report-"Saint Thomas is going to be fine," she concluded-employees kept asking her why, in a time of belt-tightening, the hospital paid to be a sponsor of the Swan Ball, the glitzy fundraiser for Cheekwood. (The cost was $5,000.) A few employees also wondered if the hospital paid for Beeman's ticket to the event, but Saint Thomas says that its executive paid the cost of admission himself. As the president and CEO of Saint Thomas Health Services, Beeman presides over five hospitals, including Saint Thomas and Baptist. It's not an easy job, and now, as Saint Thomas, the flagship hospital in the chain, heads into an uncertain period, Beeman has become something of a lighting rod. During employee meetings and over coffee breaks, hospital workers talk disparagingly about the contradictions between his extravagant lifestyle and his frequent appeals to the religious mission of the hospital. In the hospital's newsletter, Beeman writes, "It is, however, especially difficult for a person of faith to be in, yet not of, the world we live in." He's right about that. As staffers point out, the CEO drives three cars, two of which are reportedly a Mercedes and one a Volvo convertible. Saint Thomas acknowledges picking up a portion of the purchase price of one of Beeman's automobiles, although hospital officials don't specify which one. Then, last year, as the hospital was cutting benefits for its employees, Saint Thomas shelled out in the neighborhood of $35,000 for Beeman to join the Belle Made Country Club, where Climer says he often holds hospital-related meetings. They also pay for his $4,200 annual membership fees and a required annual assessment fee. These sorts of benefits don't sit well with employees at Saint Thomas Hospital, who feel that their facility has suffered the lion's share of the hospital chain's recent cutbacks. In addition, Beeman's constant reminders of the hospital's religious mission don't seem to square with his subsidized country club membership. In one memo, in which he discusses the difficulties of ensuring that all five of the hospitals under the Saint Thomas umbrella work together, he writes, "Can all of our associates collaborate in a common ministry-the healing ministry of Jesus?" By industry standards, Beeman's annual salary, just under $560,000, isn't extravagant. By comparison, Harry Jacobson, the vice chancellor for health affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, earns over $1 million, according to tax documents. Then again, as one employee told the Scene, Vanderbilt isn't laying off employees. Meanwhile, Saint Thomas Hospital itself has fallen on hard times. During employee meetings last week, German said that while Saint Thomas Health Service's market share remains stable, admissions for all area hospitals dropped by about 20 percent last year. She told workers that in May, Saint Thomas lost $1.5 million. A month later, the hospital lost another half a million dollars. "If we keep doing what we do, we're going to keep getting what we get," German said, according to a tape of one of the meetings. German cited a number of reasons for declining revenues. Inpatient procedures are shifting to the outpatient arena, and expenses are increasing while reimbursement for medical care is declining. According to one employee, German was reluctant to use the word "layoff" to describe Saint Thomas' plans. Instead, she used the more upbeat term "right-sizing." Naturally, morale at Saint Thomas is low. Layoffs are expected next month, and few employees outside of the emergency room are safe. "Hospital inpatient volumes are down across the state," spokeswoman Rebecca Climer writes in an e-mail. "This requires that adjustments be made, and those are designed to bring Saint Thomas Hospital to a level where it had been...." Climer writes that the hospital is examining a number of different alternatives. For now, though, all employees can do is take their boss's advice and pray.

CONTACT THE LIBYAN EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON DC TODAY THANKS NURSE BETTY ********************* **********************washingtonpost.com Foreigners Get Death In Libyan AIDS Case By Salah Sarrar Reuters Friday, May 7, 2004; Page A15 BENGHAZI, Libya, May 6 -- A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian physician Thursday to death by firing squad after convicting them of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. Bulgaria condemned as "unfair and absurd" the verdicts announced by court officials and was joined in outrage by its Western partners, the United States and European Union . The case has been a major obstacle to Libya joining an EU economic partnership with Mediterranean region countries. Libya's leader, Moammar Gaddafi, who is seeking closer ties with the West after more than a decade of international isolation, had promised to resolve the dispute swiftly during a visit to EU headquarters in Brussels last week. The condemned, detained in February 1999, were convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children at a Benghazi hospital with blood products contaminated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. They pleaded not guilty, insisting that the epidemic that Libyan officials say has killed more than 40 children since 1999 started before they began work at the hospital. Prosecutors charged them with "uncontrollable murder aimed at destabilizing the country, deliberately starting an epidemic . . . and conspiring to intentionally infect children with the AIDS virus." In 2001 Gaddafi said the children were infected as part of an experiment ordered by the U.S. or Israeli secret services. Bulgaria, tentatively cleared to enter the EU in 2007, has called the trial unfair, saying there was no hard evidence except for confessions from two nurses who were held without legal assistance for a year before being indicted. Nine Libyans have been on trial for torturing the confessions out of them. Zdravko Georgiev, a Bulgarian doctor and the husband of one of the nurses, was sentenced to four years in jail but was released Thursday on time served. "I'm not happy at the moment. I cannot feel free because I left behind six innocent people," Georgiev told Bulgarian television after his release. Scores of dancing and chanting relatives of the HIV-infected children took to the streets near the court in Benghazi after the verdicts were announced. "The verdict is fair. What they did is a crime against humanity. They planted a bomb inside our children," said Ramdane Ali Mohamed, whose younger sister, Hiba, died of AIDS-related causes. In Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, several hundred somber demonstrators staged a candlelight vigil for the condemned. "It's not possible for a normal person, let alone a nurse, to do such a thing," said Nina Taneva, 57. In Brussels, the European Commission said it was "deeply disappointed" at the verdict, while the State Department called it unacceptable. Amnesty International also condemned the verdict . The speaker of the Bulgarian parliament, Ognyan Gerdzhikov, said he was confident the sentences would not be carried out. "First, they can be appealed. Secondly, Libya has not executed death sentences in nine years, and I'd be very surprised if they start now. Thirdly, I expect Gaddafi to act like a humanist to win certain political credit which he needs from world public opinion," he said on national radio. Last year Luc Montagnier, the French doctor credited with discovering HIV, said the epidemic emerged in the Libyan hospital in 1997, a year before the foreign medical workers arrived. He testified that the children were most probably infected through negligence and poor hygiene. © 2004 The Washington Post Company * **********************washingtonpost.com *Foreigners **Get Death In Libyan AIDS Case By Salah SarrarReutersFriday, May 7, 2 004; Page A15 BEN GHAZI, Libya, May 6 -- A **Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian physic ian Thursday to dea th by firing squad **after convicting them of deliberately infecting hundreds of LIbyan children with HIV.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ a&e tv network show: cold case files tonight at 10 pm est will profile the cullen case "angel of death:killer nurse." the show is repeated thur the week. adios nurse betty

YOUR ONLY HOPE IS TO ASK THOSE DOCS TO kNOCK ON THE DOOR OF FOR-PROFIT HMA OUT OF NAPLES, FL. they invest in rural hospitals, but they may invest in yours. change services from trauma to rehab and MCP could maKe money AND STAY OPEN. AND U.S. SENATOR SPECTOR HAS NO BUYER OR HE COULD HAVE PLACED MCP UNDER THE THE FEDERAL VA hospital system as a rehab hospital(DOUBLE-DIPPING PAYMENTS FROM MEDICARE AND MEDICAID). he won't do this because gov't can't make $$$ on healthcare. It is a POOR investment!!!!! please note: GOV'T DOESN'T MAKE MONEY ON HEALTHCARE, BUT PRIVATE ENTERPRISES DO.. LIKE FOR-PROFIT HOSPITAL CHAINS. IMAGINE SPECTOR TELLNG THE PEOPLE THAT MCP IS LOSING MONEY($30 MILLION), but out of the goodness of our hearts the gov't will takeover ownership! IT WON'T HAPPEN.. REMEMBER TENET LOST $16 BILLION IN ONE TRADING DAY IN november WHEN THE SCANDAL OF THAT hospital in redding, ca. was exposed. THEY WERE PERFORMING UNNECESSARY CARDIAC SURGERIES ETC. (must sell this hospital that made them money per gov't order). soooooo for a long time TENET probably was focusing on hospitals that must go in all four major regions of the U.S. MCP IS BLEEDING AND TENET CAN'T AFFORD TO KEEP IT! sell it.... your mission is to find a buyer. ask HMA FOR HELP. AGAIN, WAKE-UP! LOOK FOR A NEW BUYER STAT. AND KICK TENET'S A$$ GOOD-BYE! by the way.. TENET will turnAROUND and make $$$ on that $30 million loss AT TAX TIME AND THE reaL ESTATE SALE OF THE HOSPITAL. (double-dipping profits). ADIOS NURSE BETTY PS- PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH ONE OF YOUR LAWYERS THAT KNOW HEALTHCARE LAW. pss-WE HAD THE SAME CRAP WITH HCA TEN YEARS AGO IN MIAMI BEACH. BEEN THERE, DONE IT!!!

Subject: TENET SUX! MCP.... HI: MCP WILL CLOSE! IF THE GOV'T WANTED TO SAVE YOUR HOSPITALS; THEY WOULD HAD DONE IT A LONG TIME AGO. HOW? not allowing for-profit hospital chains to exist. GOV'T OWNERSHIP OF HOSPITALS VS PRIVATIZING. you are bleeding MUCHO $$$ and unless you change the services AT MCP IT WILL CLOSE! U.S SENATOR SPECTOR KNOWS NOTHIN ABOUT HEALTH CARE ECONOMICS! he should have never told a doc to find a buyer when you are losing $30 million! it just goes to show you that the gov't doesn't want to be burden with debt ridden hospitals. THAT IS WHY THE FOR-PROFIT HOSPITAL CHAINS CAME ABOUT. they takeover the debt ridden hospitals and Make a PROFIT.. NO PROFIT... WE LEAVE! LOOK AT THE WHOLE OR HOLE OF TENET BEFORE YOU INVEST WITH THEM! GOOD LUCK. ASK HMA(out of naples, fl) for help..... NURSE BETTY PS-st francis hospital of miami beach was the FIRST ever catholic hospital to be bought by a for-profit hosp. chain called HCA! everyone should own a sen bill frist, MD(HEIR TO HCA). ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL HAS been torn down for a zillion dollar development!

January 6, 2004 Nursing Shortage Forces Hospitals to Cope Creatively By LAURIE TARKAN enter in the hospital operating room may be less lively if the surgeon's assistant is a robot rather than a nurse, but that is of no concern to the inventor of Penelope. With a six-year-old nursing shortage showing no signs of easing, Dr. Michael R. Treat of the Columbia-Presbyterian Center in Manhattan is hoping that his one-armed robot will replace the nurse who hands the surgeon the instruments, freeing the nurse to give postoperative care. Other robots already ferry medications and supplies around hospitals. With mechanical help, flexible shifts and online auctions of shifts, hospitals are surpassing the creative in dealing with the nursing shortage that experts predict will worsen in a decade or two. The pressure on hospitals to attract and retain nurses continues to grow, largely because of a mounting body of evidence that being short staffed compounds the rate of medical errors and deaths. On Jan. 1, California became the first state to mandate specific nurse-to-patient ratios. Hospitals there have been scrambling to meet the deadline. Around the country, using various strategies, some are beginning to see their efforts succeed, leading to lower vacancy rates in nursing jobs, lower turnover and lower mortality rates for patients. In addition, hospitals are seeing higher ratings of satisfaction among nurses and greater satisfaction among patients. In efforts to keep health care costs down in the 1980's and early 90's, hospitals eliminated nursing positions and tried to increase efficiency, but often at the expense of nurses' working conditions, experts contend, decreasing their flexibility, increasing their workload and reducing their roles in decision making. About 13 percent of nursing positions nationwide are vacant, the American Hospital Association reports. Experts predict that the rate will increase to 20 percent by 2015. "Every hospital wants to hire more nurses and improve the working conditions," said Amy Lee, spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, "but hospitals are in fragile financial states, and some don't have financial capital to do it." The nursing shortage may have helped Charles Cullen, the nurse who the police say has admitted killing 30 to 40 patients, to move from one hospital to the next in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The high turnover may have made his short stays at many hospitals less conspicuous and led hospitals to be less particular about their prospective employees, said Dr. Linda Aiken, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, who is a leading researcher on the shortage. "High turnover rate," Dr. Aiken said, "is a very big problem and potentially leads hospitals to be desperate to try to get in sufficient numbers of nurses to keep their services open." Many hospitals have dealt with the shortage by requiring overtime in understaffed wards. Nurses have complained that management does not listen to their concerns, often dismissing them with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. That relationship is not the only problem that has to be noticed. A report just released by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found that nurses' working conditions were contributing significantly to medical errors. High patient-to-nurse ratios, fatigue on long shifts and mandatory overtime, a lack of experienced staff, and inadequate time to monitor patients have been associated with poor medical results and higher death rates for patients, the report said. "Nurses can commit errors, and they also play a crucial role in protecting patients from errors," said Dr. Donald M. Steinwachs, who led the panel that issued the report. According to a paper by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, low numbers for nursing staffs was a factor in 19 percent of medical errors resulting in deaths or serious injuries in hospitals. Nurses' inadequate orientation and training were cited as factors in 58 percent of serious errors. A study by Dr. Aiken found that patients scheduled for routine surgery were 31 percent more likely to die in a hospital with a patient-to-nurse ratio of eight to one than in a hospital with a ratio of four to one. The study was published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association. A majority of nurses say they believe that they cannot do their jobs as well under their current working conditions, a 2001 survey by the American Nurses Association shows. The survey found that 75 percent of nurses said the quality of nursing care at their medical centers had declined in the prior two years. More than 40 percent said they would not feel comfortable having a family member cared for in their hospitals. "I think hospitals could substantially improve nurses' working conditions in ways that would have a very significant impact on patient safety," said Dr. Steinwachs, who is also chairman of the health policy and management department at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. The report recommended major changes in hospital culture. Some hospitals have already started programs. To appeal to young technologically oriented nurses, the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in South Carolina began an online auction that allows nurses to bid on extra shifts, starting at $40 an hour. They bid down the wage by 50 cents a bid; the lowest bidder wins the shift. On average, they receive $38 an hour, which is $16 an hour more than their typical pay. Nurses gain flexibility and control over their schedules. The hospital has decreased its reliance on agency nurses, who cost more to employ and train than staff employees, to 4 from 54. This month, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation began offering a "mom shift" from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to attract nurses who left the field. "They can work while their kids are in school and be there when they get home," said Claire M. Young, chief nursing officer at the hospital. The program has attracted 40 nurses. The hospital also offers a nine-month position with summers off, and it has established a partnership with KinderCare Learning Centers to offer child care. The hospital has lowered its nursing vacancy rate to 6.2 percent from 12.8 percent in 2002. Many hospitals have offered large sign-on bonuses and improved benefits. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore offers the benefit of paying 50 percent of college tuition to any college for nurses' children. Other hospitals are making special appeals to attract men, minorities and foreign nurses. Hospitals have held health fairs in schools to raise interest in nursing. One visited third graders in a grammar school. San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, Calif., just opened a concierge service to help nurses, who typically have 12-hour shifts, to deal with daily errands. The service offers laundry, dry cleaning, film developing, DVD rentals, package and mail deliveries, and entertainment tickets. "This is a fairly low-cost way to add a benefit that makes their lives easier," said George Kuykendall, president and chief executive of the hospital. Some hospitals have "lift teams" to help transfer patients. About one-third of nurses suffer back-related injuries, mostly because of lifting and transferring patients. Some hospitals turn to robots. Along with the robot Penelope, which has not yet been submitted for approval to the Food and Drug Administration, nearly 100 hospitals have used the Pyxis Helpmate, a robot that shuttles medication, meals, lab specimens, supplies, medical records and radiology films around the hospital. The robot is hard working, at 24/7, and costs less than $5 an hour. It moves at a slow pace and has to wait for the elevator like everyone else. But it saves time by not chatting at the water cooler. Aside from such innovations, hospitals have begun to address basic problems by ending mandatory overtime, involving nurses in making decisions, listening to their concerns and reducing paper and nonclinical work.

betty's deal: ANY NURSE THAT systematically kills patients using DIGOXIN and pronestyl IV DESERVES TO DIE! NURSE cullen murdered patients in NJ AND PA. HE is mentally ill and those wimpy-A** NJ prosecutors MAY give him a LIFE sentence! I SAY: hand him over to the PA. PROSECUTORS AND FRY HIS A$$! ************************* January 8, 2004 Nurse Seeks Deal in Serial Deaths: Naming Victims in Return for Life By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI OMERVILLE, N.J., Jan. 7-Charles Cullen, the nurse who has claimed that he killed 30 to 40 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania during the past decade, has made a tantalizing offer to the teams of investigators trying to retrace his sprawling trail of victims. Mr. Cullen, his lawyer says, is willing to help the authorities determine which patients he deliberately injected with fatal amounts of medication, in exchange for their agreement not to seek the death penalty. But as police officers and prosecutors from seven counties have begun the formidable task of sifting through the records of thousands of patients Mr. Cullen treated during his 16-year medical career, it now appears unlikely that they will be willing to strike a deal with him any time soon-if ever. For their part, law enforcement officials in New Jersey, which has 15 people on death row but has not carried out an execution since it reinstated the death penalty in 1982, say they have few qualms about making such an agreement. Some privately argue that such a move could save time and taxpayer money in an investigation likely to drag on for years and cost millions. They also point out that even if Mr. Cullen were sentenced to death, his history of treatment for mental illness makes it doubtful that New Jersey's Supreme Court, given its makeup and track record, would ever allow him to be executed. But prosecutors in Pennsylvania have been far more aggressive in seeking and carrying out death sentences in recent years-the state has more than 200 prisoners on death row and has carried out three executions since 1995. And as it happens, one of the Pennsylvania prosecutors involved in the Cullen case, District Attorney John Morganelli of Northampton County, is such a steadfast advocate of capital punishment that he once won a federal court case that forced the governor of Pennsylvania at the time, Robert P. Casey, to sign death warrants. At this early stage of the inquiry, all the investigators say they are too busy piecing together the evidence to decide whether to seek capital punishment. So far Mr. Cullen has been charged only in Somerset County, N.J., which has accused him in two deaths, and on Wednesday prosecutors from the two states met for the first time at the office of County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest to exchange information on the case. Nonetheless, John Hagerty, a spokesman for New Jersey's attorney general, said that one of the topics raised was the possibility of seeking the death penalty. Neither Mr. Hagerty nor the participants at the meeting would characterize those discussions, but as the case moves forward, and as Mr. Cullen perhaps faces additional murder charges in other jurisdictions, the issue is likely to become the subject of intense negotiations among the teams of prosecutors. Mr. Morganelli, who has characterized Mr. Cullen as a suspect in the death of at least two patients in Easton Hospital, said it was premature to comment on the possibility of seeking a death sentence. But Mr. Morganelli, who is an all-but-formally-declared candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, was not hesitant to proclaim his philosophical support for capital punishment. "I think that it's necessary to have the death penalty, and I think we should enforce it," he said on Wednesday. "I'm frustrated that we have 200 people on Pennsylvania's death row today, many of whom have admitted killing people, and they're still around." The New Jersey attorney general, Peter C. Harvey, whose office is overseeing the extensive investigation, has directed New Jersey prosecutors to focus on first gathering the facts before deciding whether to accept Mr. Cullen's offer of cooperation. "We've got to see what we can prove without his cooperation first," Mr. Harvey said. "Once we know that, and can evaluate the truthfulness of the statements he's made so far and know his state of mind both then and now, then we can talk." Mr. Harvey and other prosecutors involved in the investigation say the sheer volume of cases means that it will take months to slog through the paper trail of Mr. Cullen's career. Once they complete their independent assessment, the authorities also have to weigh legal and political factors involved in a death sentence. If the evidence corroborates his claims to have intentionally killed dozens of patients, law enforcement officials could face a surge of public pressure to seek the death penalty-especially in a year when one of the prosecutors involved is running for attorney general. In the weeks since Mr. Cullen first made his startling admissions, investigators have unearthed evidence that raises questions about his candor. Mr. Cullen denied killing any patients when he worked at Easton Hospital, but the authorities say they suspect him in at least two patient deaths there. If prosecutors determine that Mr. Cullen was untruthful in his statements, it could undermine the value of his cooperation. Mr. Cullen's lawyer, Johnnie Mask, has not returned repeated calls requesting comment on the matter. But death penalty opponents say that Mr. Cullen's cooperation can be valuable beyond simply saving investigators time and money. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that by helping the authorities determine precisely how, and how many, he killed, Mr. Cullen could provide the victims' families with a sense of closure and help medical authorities prevent similar incidents in the future. "I think the medical system let this go on so long, that we need to do everything we can to make sure this never happens again," Mr. Dieter said. "If Charles Cullen can help the medical system learn from this, then I think the public does recognize that there are some values that trump the death penalty."