I have to say:
"Good for you, Minnesota!"

Minnesota, my liberal neighbor in the United States, has always been a bit more progressive in some areas of politics. I have to say the news of 12,000 nurses protesting working conditions in Minnesota disturbs me, however it's about time the needs of nurses and patients are looked at closely. I cringe to think who was looking after the thousands of patients in Minnesota hospitals on June 10.

It's unfortunate it takes nurses walking off the job for administrators to take notice. Nurses are the heart of health care across the world, and things simply do not work if nurses aren't there.

We all love our jobs, otherwise we wouldn't be there. It's not about money, but rather patient safety. (And our own sanity!). And our patients deserve proper nurse:patient ratios just as much as nurses deserve better working conditions. The worst feeling as a nurse is walking away, two hours past the end of your shift, and realizing you couldn't even complete tasks which were meant to be completed because you didn't have time- and you didn't even have a break all day!

So people who think our system is fine- you're wrong! People who think our large "not-for-profit" hospitals, aren't "for-profit-" I urge you to look at your facts. Anyone who walks into a US hospital and sees the lobby with a grand piano and staircase and thinks that is OK is misguided. The most basic patient care needs aren't always met.

So I'm not happy that nurses were away from their jobs June 10. And I'm even more disturbed it took more weeks of negotiations to come to an agreement. These are YOUR family members we are looking after.

I hope people of the USA realize that we are in trouble if things don't change. Obama's plan will not solve the problem. But something has to change. Let's insure more of our citizens and promote primary prevention- catch diseases before they turn into multisystem problems. Make our population a little healthier. That will ease the burden of the healthcare system just a little.

WE CAN ALL DO OUR PART!!!!!!!