Nurses Continue to Provide Care at Veterans Administration Medical Centers Despite Payroll Snafu
Registered nurses and other care providers at ten Veterans Administration medical centers in New York, West Virginia, Illinois and Colorado were unpaid or underpaid during their last pay period ending October 25. The payroll errors occurred when the VA’s new payroll system, VATAS, went into effect in these states.
National Nurses United
Nov 1, 2013
Mandatory flu measures in B.C. a bitter pill
We simply don't have good evidence that vaccination of health-care personnel prevents influenza transmission to patients — Prof. Nick Kelley, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Minnesota. Mandatory flu shots or wearing a mask will be required not only for hospital and care-home staff in B.C. but visitors as well when flu season starts. And that’s just wrong.
Bill Tieleman
Public Health Hearings Nov. 1 on the Proposed Closure of Critical Care Units
The Department of Public Health will hold a public hearing on Nov. 1 concerning a controversial plan by North Adams Regional Hospital to close its psychiatric, pediatric and critical care units -- programs that are essential for preserving the health care safety net for resident of Northern Berkshire County. The public hearing is part of the legal process NARH is required to go through prior to closing these units, which is designed to determine if these are essential services for patients in the community.
Massachusetts Nurses Association/NNU
Oct 31, 2013
Informational Picketing at UC Hospitals Friday morning
Registered nurses, pharmacists, social workers and other professional employees will be picketing in front of the five University of California Medical Centers located in Irvine, Los Angeles, Sacramento San Diego, and San Francisco Friday morning, November 1 to protest UC’s threat to implement take-away proposals against thousands of long serving employees. The research and technical units represented by University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America (UPTE-CWA) at UC voted by more than 92 percent to give the union strike authorization, after months of bargaining to beat back the employer’s proposals that include severe cuts to pay and benefits.
California Nurses Association
Oct 31, 2013
Instead of Paul Ryan’s ‘Robin Hood in Reverse,’ Why Not a Robin Hood Tax?
For House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan and the Republican Party’s unofficial austerity caucus, the shutdown and debt-ceiling fights did not end in defeat. As part of the deal to end reopen the government and avert a “full-faith-and-credit†crisis, they got an agreement to establish a House and Senate conference committee that is charged with pulling together a bipartisan budget plan.
The Nation
Nurses Protest Kaiser at Warriors Game-Members Shouldn’t Have to Jump Through Hoops to Get Care
OAKLAND-Registered nurses dressed in red scrubs, parents, and children will be protesting Kaiser Permanente’s elimination of essential patient services Wednesday evening at the Golden State Warriors opening game of the season. The nurses are demanding that Kaiser return to their fundamental mission of delivering quality patient care to the community. Kaiser is one of the major corporate sponsors of the Warriors. Kaiser has been reducing inpatient hospital services and RN staffing in its hospitals. On Nov.17, Kaiser will be closing all of their inpatient pediatric services serving southern Alameda County. The unit serves over 1,800 families a year, and more than 100,000 children in the tri-city area receive healthcare from the facility.
Oct 30, 2013
Robin Hood tax would change tone in Washington
Activists from across the land gathered in Washington October 29 to step up what has become an increasingly vocal demand for a change of priorities and tone – with a call to expand the revenue pie with a tax on Wall Street speculation, the Robin Hood tax.
Robin Hood Tax USA
Parents, nurses discuss Kaiser Hayward pediatric ward closing
Kaiser has been planning to shut down this hospital and move to a brand new one in San Leandro next summer. During a town hall meeting, nurses raised concerns to parents after learning that pediatrics will be shut down there in a month. "We thought that we would be dealing with this about a year down the road, it would give us time to alert the public of the dangers," said nurse Robert Marth. For some parents the news is a shock.
KGO-TV
A great idea for making Wall Street pay its fair share
The idea is known as a financial transaction tax. It would amount to fractions of a penny on the dollar value of every stock, bond and derivatives trade -- perhaps 5 cents per $100. But estimates of its potential return run as high as $700 billion a year. That would bump up current federal revenues by about 24%.
Los Angeles Times
Some health insurance gets pricier as Obamacare rolls out
Thousands of Californians are discovering what Obamacare will cost them — and many don't like what they see. These middle-class consumers are staring at hefty increases on their insurance bills as the overhaul remakes the healthcare market. Their rates are rising in large part to help offset the higher costs of covering sicker, poorer people who have been shut out of the system for years.
Los Angeles Times