Nurses vs. Governor: an Unhealthy Situation

Re “Nurses Union Leader Is a Tonic for Governor’s Foes,” April 17: The coalition allied against the governor finds satisfaction in his declining popularity. Meanwhile, the budget deficit grows and looms on the horizon as far out as analysts can see.

Rose Ann DeMoro’s not being a healthcare professional may explain her inability to differentiate a symptom from a disease. The squeeze on funding for essential public services is not left/right, Republican/Democrat or private/public sector. It is bottom line and a symptom of the disease.

Until our structural budget problems -- the disease as described in The Times magazine story on reconsidering Proposition 13 (April 17) -- are resolved, funding for healthcare, education, public safety and every other public service in the state is jeopardized.

T.E. O’Connor

Rancho Cucamonga

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My friends will tell me they read about my union in the newspaper. That’s not my union! I am a proud member of the United Nurses Assns. of California/United Health Care Professionals, which believes the ratios are wrong and nurses and other union members are receiving a raw deal from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. We choose to fight those injustices in the courts and on the legislative floor as professionals. I find some of the tactics of the California Nurses Assn. tasteless and tactless. UNAC/UHCP -- made up of healthcare professionals, with all our officers registered nurses -- is an organization that makes me proud.

Mary Ferrell RN

Lakewood

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As a practicing RN, I was more than a little uncomfortable reading the article on Rose Ann DeMoro. Of course nursing ratios in hospitals need to be changed. But the caption on the Page 1 photo of DeMoro, in which she accuses Gov. Schwarzenegger of “bullying,” is a bit of a sad joke. When Cedars-Sinai was voting on unionizing, one of my good friends there spoke out against the process. For her trouble, she was awakened at about 3:30 a.m. for three weeks and urged to change her mind.

I recently passed on an offer to apply for a management position. I’m happy to still be interested in patient care, not bullying and harassment, which sadly seems to be part and parcel of DeMoro’s model for nursing management.

Change needs to come, but not the way she wants to do it. I’m just happy that she is not a nurse; at least this way she can’t be a discredit to the profession I love so much.

Chris Rice RN

Los Angeles