Tuesday, April 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
A RECENT NEWS story about the increased profits made last year by Nevada hospitals has six "anonymous nurses" from a local hospital riled.
Could these "profits" be linked to the nurse-to-patient ratio, they wonder.
To maintain hospital budgets, these nurses claim the ratio has risen to critically unsafe levels.
"Nurses," they claim, "are being assigned 12 to 14 patients on med-surg units and only one nursing assistant for every 16 to 18 patients. It is physically impossible for a nurse to provide care for that many patients, especially considering the increased needs of patients today. Doctors, nurses and patients are dissatisfied with this quality of care and have complained to administration. There is a chronic shortage of supplies on the units and equipment is outdated or frequently malfunctions.
"All of these sacrifices are what provide the corporations, which own the hospitals, with multimillion-dollar profits. The public needs to organize and begin demanding more for its money from health care facilities and government needs to increase control over corporations who are economically raping the health care consumer."
And that's straight from the nurses' mouths.
If patients feel they are being shortchanged on quality care at any hospital, they should complain loud and long -- but wait until you are out of the hospital before registering your dissatisfaction.
Jimmy Hoffa Jr. is in town spreading the word that he is seeking to rule the once-powerful Teamsters Union. In his quest for the presidency of the huge union, the young Hoffa is determined to shake the stories of mob influence that tainted his father's regime and, some believe, brought about his murder.
When stories of Las Vegas are written, movies made and television documentaries celebrate the turbulent history of the town, few recall the role played by Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters Union.
Literally millions of dollars were loaned by the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas pension fund to build hotels, golf courses, and offer financial aid to already established businesses. These loans were made possible through the influence of Jimmy Hoffa.
Historians should make note of the fact.
Politicians are not the only ones who puzzle over the ethics of accepting gifts.
It happens to newspaper editors, reporters and columnists as well as TV commentators and radio disc jockeys. Some referred to it as payola.
Several years back, a young sports reporter working for the SUN covered a heavyweight fight. After the event, one of the boxer's managers sent him a very expensive shirt.
Now the kid only had but two shirts to his name, and generally looked rumpled and somewhat messy. But he decided to send the shirt back. He couldn't accept it.
It was the first time I ever gave advice to a reporter to "keep the shirt." I knew he needed it more than the boxer's manager so I rationalized in this manner.
"If you had received the gift before the fight, we could assume the manager was looking for some good press. But it was after the fight when he was merely acknowledging your intelligent coverage."
It might not have been the right thing to say, but our reporter really needed that shirt.
I suppose sometimes our politicians are in the same situation. A gift comes after the fact and not before. Perhaps they rationalize that it was a "thank you" instead of a "will you."
It's a tough question with a lot of intangibles, and ethics commissions should be careful when they draw up guidelines.
You just can't take the shirt off a politician's back.
Silver State Disposal has done a good job of picking up garbage for many years. And it has been a lucrative business for the owners.
Any one of the owners and officers involved in the recent brouhaha with the government could well afford to pay for the Jet Skis, home improvements and miscellaneous items they allegedly charged to the company.
If true, it was a stupid thing to do and it looks like they might have to pay for their greed.
As a dedicated Pepsi-Cola drinker, I guess I will have to forgo visits to the Fremont Street Experience since the directors have announced that a deal has been made to sell only Coca-Cola.
How can they do that?
Don't invite me to the top of the Stratosphere Tower.
King Kong couldn't entice me to that lofty aerie in the sky.
So they are finally admitting that consumer prices are rising.
I knew that. Every time I buy a box of cereal or a gallon of gas, it's easy to tell.
According to SUN reader Frank Tager, "Fools rush in and always get the best seats."
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