Nurse describes how hospital lacks relief personnel
I am a registered nurse at Alameda Hospital. I have worked there for about 15 months. I love my job and feel that the care we give is excellent. For about the first eight months or so of my employment at the hospital my coworkers and I always had dinner and bathroom breaks while still maintaining the mandated safe staffing ratios for California in a coronary care unit.
This was possible because we had what’s called a "relief nurse" also known at other hospitals as a charge nurse and/or resource nurse.
Remember when you were in high school and someone asked the teacher why you had to study history? The answer invariably was, "So we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past." Welcome to the future — that of the City Planner’s and Planning Board’s vision of the future for Alameda — where the mistakes of the past are being writ large.
The comments below were excerpted from a local newspaper:
I would like to reply to Terry W. Gintz’s piece ("Alameda Is Not Safe at Any Speed," Jan. 22). I called him to thank him for such a great commentary and told him I was very glad that he was not injured in the accident he had on Christmas Eve. After all, the very busy traffic and issues we witnessed during the holidays has now been exchanged for the sometimes difficult back-to-work or back-to-school traffic issues we see here and on the local freeways.
My family has been lucky to be part of the Henry Haight Elementary School community since my twin daughters started kindergarten. One of my twins had a rough start in school. She had teachers who set limits while encouraging her creativity. I credit them with the love of learning and self-confidence she has in herself today.
"Tonight we turn the page," said President Obama in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address. Our new City Council has followed suit.
The next day at the request of Vice Mayor Frank Matarrese, councilmembers decided to set up a liaison committee to work with the East Bay Regional Park District. The move comes on the heels of the city and park district settling their lawsuit. The committee will look into advancing Alameda parkland opportunities, including the surplus federal property next to Crab Cove and at Alameda Point.
