To the editor:
There is no good reason the Houlton Regional Hospital nurses continue to work without proper staffing. Reading a statement made that the nurse-to-patient assignments are well within national benchmarks, I thought, “I don’t care what the national benchmarks are. I don’t live nationally. I live here, receive care here and want our nurses properly cared for.”
I’d step in front of a truck for our Houlton nurses. They are trying to prevent a tragedy, for the emergency department is controlled chaos, controlled only because of the professional ability, both medical and just plain human kindness. There is a saying in the military: “Two is one, three is two.” Please give these nurses the safety and security they deserve, [for] the life that is being cared for and possibly saved while in the ED [is] priceless and that one extra nurse — priceless.
My defense of the nurses, RNs, LPNs, nurse’s aides and the entire medical staff comes from the wonderful, outstanding treatment my wife received many times last year. The acute care nurses, called “my angels” by my wife, have a very special place in my life. The kindness they show to their patients and their families goes far beyond being a professional. Their medical ability is unmatched by so-called “bigger facilities.” My wife declined a transfer to a bigger facility.
Mr. Zewe, you have a treasure in these nurses. This is their community and it shows in each of them. Their spiritual support is as important as any pill. Those nurses don’t stop — always moving, answering patients’ calls, and with calm demeanor. While [they are] assisting one patient you can hear someone ringing for a nurse, or sometimes a patient yelling. Another nurse to assist would stop a lot of the yelling. It is not the nurses’ fault, nor the patients’. Management, the yelling is on you.
I am alive and well today. The acute care nurses will never know how much I appreciate what they did for me and for my wife. As a visitor, you are treated by these nurses as if you are family. As a patient, you are their only family. I thank them all.
Ed Verbeke
Cary Plantation
