I read with great interest and curiosity the letter from Amy Bernard regarding nursing and the Safe Staffing Ballot Initiative. It was interesting that a teacher should have such a strong, informed opinion about the number one issue with nurses — safe staffing for their patients.
In all fairness, she should have disclosed she is the mother of a nurse manager at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, whose boss is Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, who has invested heavily in the defeat of the initiative.
The nurses at BFMC, who are the MNA, fought long and hard for safe staffing language in their contract because they feel it will reduce the death rate in hospitals, reduce high readmission rates, reduce deadly medication errors and infection rates.
Today’s patients are sicker and much more complex, and no one has ever been admitted to a hospital and felt there were enough nurses. Chronic short staffing is the number one reason nurses leave the profession. So, yes, please listen to the nurses — the people on the front line of health care today.
Kate Muscari
South Deerfield