Readers write for June 23, 2010

I want to say thank you to all the nurses who voted to strike rather than accept proposals by hospital administrators which would jeopardize patient safety and care ("Nurses: A strong 'yes' to strike," June 22). I cannot begin to comprehend the personal sacrifices these nurses may be making by their votes.

Unlike the past, many hospital stays are now often for critical care situations. These cases demand that a nurse have an expertise in a certain area of medicine and be proficient in the operation of equipment required for treating and monitoring of a specific illness or injury. I would not want a "floating" orthopedic nurse taking care of my cardiac emergency. In also would not want a nurse whose patient load has significantly increased to choose between addressing my medical crisis and that of others.

Many have written that nurses are paid well. A hospital nurse who continually deals with life and death situations in caring for patients and their families -- and has the level of accountability and responsibility inherent in the profession -- should be paid well.

NANCY ABELMANN, BURNSVILLE

• • •

Hey, how about some balanced reporting for a change? A nice article about the humanness of hospital administrators, their wonderful families, the struggles they undergo with mountains of paperwork with increasingly daunting federal and state regulations, trying to cope with steadily declining revenues while battling to bring the most modern care close to home.

JOHN SELDEN, GOLDEN VALLEY

Our current system is unsustainable. Tweaks, mandates and corporate insurance bailouts will no longer work. The Minnesota Health Plan would save money, lowering the per-person cost of health care and giving working families and small businesses relief from the crushing burden of health care costs. And by focusing on prevention and primary care, the plan would keep people healthier and more productive.

This plan creates jobs by lowering total spending on health care. This is especially important for the 500,000 small businesses in Minnesota. Jobs will expand in the health care delivery sector when everyone has access to care. People will be employed to provide health care rather than deny care and deny payment as the insurance industry often does now. We know what it will make abundantly clear: Single-payer uses the only proven means of cost containment; administrative simplicity, bulk purchasing, negotiated rates, capital planning, global budgeting and the creation of a large risk pool.

The Minnesota Health Plan would give everyone what they really want for insurance: the peace of mind that they have affordable coverage that can't be taken away, and the choice of a doctor who they think is best for them. The Minnesota Health Plan would assure health care when you need it, because that's what every Minnesotan deserves.

AMY LANGE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MINNESOTA UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COALITION

tom emmer

The antics of Tom Emmer ("Emmer's feisty spirit fuels legal fights," June 22) are hardly the example of what I look for in someone seeking to be governor. Suing an office manager, not paying bills,and tossing out office furniture of a colleague appear to be a very poor way of handling disagreements. Then to fight it out in court, incurring expenses for those defendants, seems more like bullying than an attempt to solve the problem.

Being loyal and standing for one's beliefs does not include bullying. We need a governor who won't toss out the office chairs.

MARGARET MERCER, LONG LAKE

My 3-year-old cat Polly died yesterday. A week ago, she was perfectly healthy. Then she bit the tip off the leaf of an Oriental lily from our garden. What I didn't know was that tiny piece of leaf had caused her to go into acute kidney failure.

All parts of lily plants are deadly to cats. If the cat receives medical attention within a few hours of ingesting the plant, it may survive. Otherwise it will be dead in just days; there is no cure once the kidney damage has begun.

JOE LINN, ROSEVILLE

• • •

Kudos to the St. Louis Park Police Department. We had a cage in our back yard to catch raccoons, but one night our poodle, LuuLuu, got caught in it and we could not open the cage. At 2 a.m., the police came immediately and rescued LuuLuu. They are wonderful!