Patient safety is at center of strike

Some media coverage recently has portrayed the striking nurses as selfish and greedy, but basically it's the exact opposite. We've been trying to work with management for three years to resolve the issue of unsafe staffing, but they've continued not to take us seriously.

Short staffing and the use of mandatory overtime have jeopardized patient safety long enough. It's only a matter of time before a patient suffers a bad outcome here at Kuakini. Right now, those in management seem to feel they are coping well without us since they brought in agency nurses, but people need to remember that these scabs are only in it for the money. I hope our supervisors and other nursing management staff who haven't provided bedside care in years will now see first-hand what we've been talking about all along. We're more than willing to work with management in resolving these issues and the first step is negotiating a new contract.

We'd also like to thank the public, our doctors and other health-care team members for their overwhelming support. Mahalo!

Lisa Nakamoto, RN
Kuakini Medical Center

Nurses care during good times and bad

Do you remember how Queen's treated the nurses at Molokai General? They are doing the same to the Queen's nurses now. The 21 percent raise spread over three years is being paid for by taking away our sick time and depleting our pension plan. There is a national nursing shortage and when it hits Hawaii the nurses are the ones who will be working double shifts to take care of you. Whether or not you come out to support us, we will be the ones caring for you in your time of need.

Joan Craft, RN
Kailua

'Righteous men' inflict injustice on Hawaii

Charles Memminger's Honolulu Lite column (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 1) on the state of affairs regarding Justices Steven Levinson and Simeon Acoba in the Supreme Court and Judge Joel August in the Maui court should have been on the front page of the paper. The people of Hawaii should have news like that hit them between the eyes instead of let it creep up softly from behind and then rile them in retrospect. These black-muumuued men have a duty to do the right thing, even more so than the rest of us. What is our recourse if a judge is not up to the awesome task before him/her?

One would wonder if these righteous men were appointed by Gary Rodrigues, recently convicted of 101 federal charges, who sat on the Judicial Selection Committee. Boy, is that a scary thought. Who were the judges selected when Rodrigues was in power? It would be interesting to know.

Lehua Ecumene

Judges must consider facts, ignore emotions

I agree with Charles Memminger that bashing lawyers and judges can be fun, and soooo easy. I enjoy good lawyer jokes, even though they are at my own expense. But we also must recognize that rendering a judgment and sentence on another human being is a serious and complex matter.

Memminger has seriously misunderstood Judge Joel August's statement that he was not going to consider public opinion. August was properly asserting that he was going to decide this case based on the facts.

I know August cares deeply about the concerns of the community. He has donated many hours to good causes here. But when he dons his robe, he knows he has a duty to follow proper procedures, regardless of whether it will make him popular.

It's good to debate the important issues facing our judiciary. But we want to make sure that we have all the facts and that we are not basing our views solely on emotions. We need to recognize the complexity of the judges' duties, and in the meantime we may pray that all our judges be as wise as Solomon or as creative as Ooka, the wise judge of Japanese lore.

J.P. Schmidt
President
Maui County Bar Association

Lott's comments embarrassing to U.S.

Why hasn't there been more public outrage in the light of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's comments during Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th-birthday party?

The Republican leader said, "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

In 1948 Thurmond, who ran for president that year and eventually lost the Republican nomination to Thomas Dewey (who supported civil rights), said, "All the laws in Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches."

While the Republican Party has tolerated Thurmond, the American people cannot and should not tolerate someone like Lott in a position of leadership.

Lott's comments are an embarrassment to the Republican Party and America, and if the good people of Mississippi are wise they will vote him out of office at the next opportunity.

Don Hayman
Aiea

UPW health plan was no coverage at all

Doron Weinberg's letter (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 8) asserting that it was proven that union health plans were priced lower and provided better health coverage for the United Public Workers union members is a bit misleading. UPW health-care coverage, provided by PGMA, ultimately became no coverage at all. PGMA went bankrupt and left $17.5 million in unpaid medical claims and $2 million in unpaid prescription drug claims. Many UPW members went without coverage altogether when doctors and pharmacies did not honor their PGMA cards.

How this constitutes better health coverage is a mystery to me.

The consultancy arrangements that Weinberg contends are a normal business practice are the type of management razzle-dazzle that unions have always fought against. If consultant fees don't add to the cost of the product, where does the money come from? Weinberg would have us believe the insurer produces the money for the consultancy contract out of thin air.

In the end, PGMA was just that -- thin air, not a health-care provider, and many union workers were hurt as a result.

Keith Chudzik
Kaneohe

---

How to write us The Star-Bulletin welcomes letters that are crisp and to the point (150 to 200 words). The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Please direct comments to the issues; personal attacks will not be published. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number. Letter form: Online form, click here E-mail: letters@starbulletin.com Fax: (808) 529-4750 Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813