Letter of the Day: Wadena tornado shows what's at stake if metro nurses strike

I am a longtime resident of the metro area now serving as an interim pastor at a church in Wadena, Minn. In the hours after the recent tornado, I helped our local hospital respond to the crisis and was extremely impressed with the teamwork and competence of the disaster-response team, especially the nurses. With this experience, I am terrified by what could happen in the metro area if the negotiators for the hospitals insist on forcing our nurses into a strike. What if an F-4 tornado struck during a nurses' strike? From what I've seen in Wadena, there is no way that a skeleton team of replacement nurses from other areas, with no experience as a team and minimal orientation to their jobs, could come close to responding the way our own nurses would respond. Lives would be lost. I urge both sides to return immediately to the bargaining table. Safe staffing is obviously essential, as is making the best use of every health care dollar. This isn't a time to score points or to try to intimidate the other side. This is time to get a just contract for our nurses and hospitals. The Rev. Bob Griggs, St. Louis Park