A Snowy Tale of Two Cities, Part One

Latest in a series

 

D.C. hospital fires 11 nurses, 5 staffers for snowstorm absence

The District's largest private hospital has fired 11 nurses and five support staff members who failed to make it to work during the back-to-back snowstorms that paralyzed the region earlier this month.  

"Sadly, we did experience some issue with associates who did not show the same commitment as most of their co-workers to the community, our patients and their fellow associates. They are the few who turned away from their scheduled shifts and who tried -- and are still trying -- to turn the focus on themselves rather than the thousands of Washington Hospital Center workers who fulfilled their commitment to their patients and colleagues, and made it to work," (hospital President Harry J. Rider) wrote.

Pittsburgh EMS workers may be punished

 Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Service workers could face discipline for a series of errors that led to a Hazelwood man's death during the snowstorms, Public Safety Director Michael Huss said Wednesday.

 City officials declined to discuss specifics, except to say they were reviewing possible disciplinary action. The city asked the Allegheny County Health Department to investigate what happened during the Feb. 5-6 snowstorm, and Huss spent yesterday listening to phone calls connected with the death of Curtis Mitchell, 50, of Chaplain Way.

It's funny in a sad, sad way, how during the same storms, one group is facing discipline for showing up for work while another group seems to have stepped in it by not making it to work.

In the Washington case, the hospital claims that, despite hospital-provided transportation, these folks couldn't make it in, and in the president's words:

"Sadly, we did experience some issue with associates who did not show the same commitment as most of their co-workers to the community, our patients and their fellow associates. They are the few who turned away from their scheduled shifts and who tried -- and are still trying -- to turn the focus on themselves rather than the thousands of Washington Hospital Center workers who fulfilled their commitment to their patients and colleagues, and made it to work,"

However, all will probably end well since it seems that the hospital and it's nurses' union are due to start contract negotiations soon. Add to that this little tidbit about one of the nurses, Geri Lee:

In the meantime, the nurses union, Nurses United of the National Capital Region, has filed a class-action grievance with the hospital. Lee is a member of the union’s contract negotiating team and has been a shop steward and a member of the union’s executive board. In January, she gave a deposition in a grievance filed by the union against the Hospital Center for firing nurses who had not taken flu vaccinations.

and this all seems like a pathetic excuse for posturing.