Readers sound off on striking nurses, retirees’ health care and kids with guns

Glendale: Three years since the unparalleled and immense appreciation of nurses across America, 7,000 nurses have resorted to going on strike here at local hospitals. Much can be learned in these modern times about how quickly anyone in any industry can fall from grace.

Behind the scenes in most hospitals since the outbreak of the pandemic, administrations have been hard-pressed to maintain the staff needed to care for the sick and injured. While the narrative in recent days focuses on nurses reacting in what many may feel is unorthodox and even unacceptable ways, there is likely more to the story than is being reported.

During the worst days of the pandemic, hospitals were overrun by patients dying at alarming rates. Steadfast and dedicated, nurses prevailed and were applauded for their efforts through this perilous period in our city’s history. Now entering the third year since the outbreak, hospital staffs have been decimated to the point of crisis. The ratios of nurses to patients place every facet of nursing at risk and ultimately create an exhausting and debilitating process of care. The administrations, meanwhile — top-heavy management removed from daily care — point fingers seeking blame. Like many corporations view people, patients are considered collateral damage.

This exploitation cannot be ignored. Hospitals are not department stores. Management makes up the highest level of salaries. They were quick to applaud the unprecedented actions of nursing staff when the world was falling apart. Now, when things are finding some semblance of balance, these owners of our health care facilities are crying poverty. If nurses can be taken for granted, we as a society have lost our moral compass. Jonathan Kiddrane

Howard Beach: I hope the striking nurses at Mount Sinai are able to reach a swift settlement. I have been a cancer patient there for the past three years. I know from personal experience that they are the most caring and compassionate medical professionals you could ask for. I was hospitalized several times when they were working with minimal staffing and never heard a word of complaint. They always took the time to explain procedures to me or even just reassure me. They deserve more help! Michael Groneman

Glendale: I was trained as a poll worker in June and worked the election in August. It is January and I’m still waiting for payment. I wrote three letters and called more than 30 times. On Dec. 5, I spoke to someone who said she would help but she hasn’t. I left her many messages, but she won’t return my calls. On Tuesday, I was told she would email an address to use, but she didn’t. All I need is an affidavit, but it appears no one at the Queens Board of Elections cares. Arlene Bartholomew

Douglaston: Bravo, Daily News, for putting retirees on page 2 of Tuesday’s paper (“Angry retirees pack Council meet on Adams’ health plan,” Jan. 10)! Just when I was losing hope, you gave it back to me in your reporting on the meeting where Medicare “Disadvantage” was soundly slapped down by retirees and the City Council. Just when the Editorial Board of The News once more supported this terrible plan, the Daily News stepped up and reported on the retirees who angrily protested the plan at the hearing on Monday and the Council members who supported them. This shows real respect for your readers and great fairness in your reporting. Thank you for all the continued coverage and the letters that you have published in Voice of the People. The letters of so many retirees and other Voicers opposing the Medicare Advantage plan that have been published have kept our voices heard. Gail Richards

Forest Hills: I am an NYC retiree and I am livid that my beloved Daily News chose to make light of the fight we retirees are in to save our health benefits in the “Advancing the Advantage” editorial (Jan. 8). For starters, referring to our pushing back on the city’s effort to strip us of our traditional Medicare as “insinuations and scattered anecdotes” is beyond insulting and patently untrue. An investigation of Medicare Advantage plans by the federal Health and Human Services Department’s Inspector General’s Office revealed “85,000 beneficiary requests for prior authorization of medical care were potentially improperly denied in 2019.″ The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees has already identified $300 million in health care savings the city can obtain, but the mayor has refused to form a blue-ribbon panel to investigate. A “scattered anecdote”: In 2022, I was seen by eight different physicians in 34 separate visits and not a single one accepted the most common MAPs. J.M. Culley

Yonkers: One way to end the controversy over the retirees’ medical plan is to require that the mayor, his staff and all City Council members be enrolled in the same plan. I would like to see if anyone supports it then. John Martineck

Morris Plains, N.J.: To Diane Sanders Hombach: You are 1 million percent correct. I ran employee benefits for a large insurance company. Our medical plans monetarily encouraged employees to get their annual physicals and deal with their medical issues or potential issues. The best way possible to lower premiums is to have fewer unnecessary claims. Joe Tierney

Rochdale Village: Voicer Douglas Gladstone rightly said former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tom Browning, who pitched a perfect game, stands to get $245,000 from the new collective bargaining agreement. Unfortunately, he can’t spend it, as he passed away on Dec. 19. Saul Rothenberg

Forest Hills: With all the issues in the housing market, it’s reassuring that the Jets have at least been able to secure a long-term lease on last place in the AFC East. Alan Hirschberg

Richmond Hill: How is it that I get 50 requests from every charity under the sun every month and the millionaires of the world can’t buy yachts big enough for themselves? If we could get a dozen of these Daddy Warbucks’ together in a good mood, they each could pick a disease to cure. World hunger could be split between two or three. Robert Clolery

Monroe, N.J.: I knew someone would bring Donald Trump into the Brazil protests. The winner is Sen. Bob Menendez. He says Trump continues to poison the Western Hemisphere. Give it a rest, these comments make you look like an idiot. John Ray

Scranton, Pa.: What if the teacher who was recently shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia (”Va. teacher was shot midlesson, police big says,” Jan. 10) had been armed, as many are in favor of teachers packing heat in their classrooms? I suppose the unfortunate outcome would have been the same, although the teacher is thankfully recovering. But maybe the incident could have been averted if the other students were carrying as well, because, you know, the only thing that can stop a naughty 6-year-old with a gun is a good 6-year-old with a gun. Vin Morabito

Bronx: High gas prices are a global problem, not just an American one. Here are some global gas prices from May 2022: Hong Kong, $10.97; Norway, $9.64; Denmark, $9.22; Finland, $8.89; Iceland, $8.76; Greece, $8.70; the Netherlands, $8.58; and Singapore, $8.39. The price in the U.S. was $4.59. Do your due diligence. President Biden is not to blame for high gas prices. America is one of the highest producers of oil and American oil companies are not going to reduce their prices. In fact, they are taking advantage of the crisis. Gilbert M. Lane

Rye Brook, N.Y.: To Voicer Nick Smith: If the Arabs had not started wars in December 1947 and May 1948, there would not have been a single Arab refugee. The Arab deaths in the 1948-49 war, about 10,000, were not Palestinians but invading Arab soldiers from outside countries. About 7,000 Jews died. My extensive readings about the fighting indicate only one Arab leadership claim of Jews massacring Palestinian civilians, in Deir Yassin. This claim was said to be false by Arab scholars. There were about 820,000 Jewish refugees driven out of Arab countries. Demes Poulos