NurseWeek
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December
11, 2000
The
true test
There
is nothing wrong with strong opinions (abortion, anti-abortion,
pro-life, pro-choice), but please be careful of religious
"fervor." Our patients don’t need it and our co-workers
don’t want it.
As
for the recent presidential election: I see that many people
have turned this into a one-issue campaign and refuse to
look any further. Politicians say a lot of things to get
elected. The true test of who and what they are is in their
past record.
Gov.
Bush has a past record in Texas on the environment, health
care for poor children, execution, his own military record
and business dealings (Source: Shrub,
by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, Vintage Books, October 2000).
Don’t
take my word for it; get on the Internet, find out and do
your own checking. The poster boy for the religious right
wing isn’t as shiny clean as everyone would like to think.
Welcome to the real world of politics.
Ruth
Fensler, RN
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Mercury
link
Your
article ("Unraveling
Autism," Nov. 20) was excellent.
My
grandson’s autism is definitely linked to the vaccines he
received at 18 months, and he has been helped greatly by
the Defeat Autism Now! protocol.
The
general public needs to be informed that thimerosal (mercury)
is used in many adult vaccines, as well – the flu vaccine
being one of them.
Thank
you for your attention to this important issue.
Judy
Crane, RN
Marina del Rey, Calif.
Stop
the hypocrisy
Just
recently, I made a trip to visit the octogenarian in-laws
in Pennsylvania. They fall just above the income limit for
state-funded drug assistance programs. While there, I made
an eye-opening trip to the drugstore to pick up one of the
new "designer" NSAIDs they are prescribed. Simple,
once-daily dosing at only $98 for 30 pills!
Upon
my return to California, I picked up a pen bearing a drug
company logo. I used the pen to write my grocery list on
a drug company-provided scratch pad. (It was scented, too.)
Before shopping, I made a trip to the gym and needed water
to take with me, so I grabbed one of my many sports bottles
bearing drug company logos.
The
next day at work I had a free lunch sponsored by a drug
company. The following day, several reps came by the office
to drop off samples while also bearing their goodies: candies
(logos on every wrapper), cookies (Mrs. Field’s), umbrellas
bearing the name of the anti-depressant du jour (You know
how "blue" you get when it’s raining?) and my
personal flip-me-right-over-the-edge gift (bribe?), bean
bags in the shape of internal organs.
I
also have attended many an "educational dinner"
at some of San Diego’s finest restaurants, replete with
fine wines, courtesy of – you guessed it – drug companies.
Isn’t
it time for us to take a look at the hypocrisy here? Which
of us isn’t revved up by the exhibitors’ booths at the various
conventions we attend? I have actually had to leave some
of the marketing items for the hotel maids as I couldn’t
carry them home.
Last
week, before I saw this article in your magazine ("Back-breaking
Drug Costs," Oct. 30), I informed my fellow clinicians
by way of a letter that I will no longer accept any drug
company food or the other assorted items costing billions
of dollars per Domrose’s article. Couldn’t that money be
used to defray the cost of the medications for our patients?
Do the patients know how well we are treated while some
of them are forced to eat dog food?
Wake
up, nurses! Take all the crap the drug companies have to
offer you, if you like, but quit your bitching about the
high cost of drugs. If you’re with me, bring carrots to
work for a snack. They are better for you than fancy pastries
anyway. Buy your own lunch. Yes, I know we all need a raise,
but I think we can well afford to eat in the cafeteria or
at a local restaurant.
How
many of the pens in your kitchen drawer are dried up remnants
of a great trip to Chicago or Boston? Dump ’em, I say. I
am asking you to join me in putting a halt to this insidious,
shameful, hypocritical activity. Who wants to join me in
a boycott? We can make a difference.
Mary
McCarthy, NP, RN
Fallbrook, Calif.
Nursing
pioneers
After
reading "On
Their Own" (Nov.13) about nurse-managed clinics,
it seems that Joy Smith Catterson, RN, and I are really
unique in that our Independent Nursing Practice – the
first corporation of its kind – is an entity that is
rare.
Together
we – and later I alone – created a successful entrepreneurial
business that was extremely profitable, which in fact has
now allowed me the freedom to produce and host TV shows.
We were truly freestanding and never based our services
on any income from grants or any government subsidies at
all. Our own investment of $500 apiece later turned into
a financially viable and very profitable business employing
hundreds of nurses with diverse services in home care, private
duty, first aid on movie sets, etc.
Our
adventure is chronicled in Nurses: On Our Own, which
includes an update and another chapter on the how-to business
of nursing without any attachments to government or universities
as a basis for income. This business grossed many dollars
and the stories are intimate, intense and bittersweet with
great rewards.
Thank
you for giving us the chance to inform other nurses of their
own ability to forge ahead and venture into the world of
business and medicine. The book is available through bookstores
and at www.iuniverse.com.
Karen
White Gibson, RN
Romeoville, Ill.
