Well here we go again, many readers in Texas were subjected to a lengthy, though already rather worn, tale of the triumph of the C.N.A over to evil hospital corporations/ However for those of us, many who are RNs, this story was yet another pubic relations tall tale about the C.N.A. and its non-nurse executive director DeMoro. Early this month the San Francisco Chronicle tried to portray DeMoro as some kind of modern day Florence Nightingale and now the Texas Observer would want us to believe that she is a modern day Wonder Woman. The problem with both analogies is that they are incorrect. First, as so many of us know DeMoro is not nor has she ever been a licensed RN and her actions and behavior would shame the woman credited with founding modern nursing. As for being a Wonder Woman, those of us who grew up with Wonder Woman recognize that the reference to the nurse members of the C.N.A. as her (DeMoro's) nurses is an insult to the Wonder Woman myth. Wonder Woman would have never tolerate anyone referring to people as "hers" as if they are owned by DeMoro.
So when I read this what I can only characterize as a publicity stunt I responded with a letter to the Texas Observer, and a follow up phone call. Again no response except the request to resend the email to another individual at the Texas Observer, which I did. Still no response so up on the "Nurse Unchained" it goes. Below you will find my letter and the link to the article it is in response.
Enjoy.
May 18, 2007
Letters to the Editor
The Texas Observer
Austin, TX 78701
Re: An Ounce of Dissension
Dear Editor:
When I read the above article I was struck with a strong sense of déjà vu? Why, because I had read a strikingly similar article a week earlier in a local California newspaper. There is a term in journalism for this kind of reporting and its called planting a story. I wasn't surprised to discover the California newspaper had engaged in such a practice - it's common in a state that makes its business in the marketing of illusions - but to see it being excepted in the Texas press is very saddening.
As for the Texas nurses taking a stand for nurses and patients rights I say kudos, though I'm not sure the NNOC is the way to go. I find Sharp's reference to nurses as "her (DeMoro's) nurses" tacky - since they are not her nurses! As a nurse who has worked at the bedside in many states, including Texas (Bexar County Hospital) and now lives in California I can proudly state that I am no nurse of DeMoro; and I am one of the more than 250,000 active California RNs that have said no to the antics of the C.N.A. and DeMoro. I also find it intriguing that no mention was made of Deborah Burger, who is a RN, and the president of the organization. But what should I expect of an organization that pays its executive director (who is not a RN) almost three times what they pay their president (who is a RN). Sounds to me like DeMoro has more in common with the hospital/healthcare corporations she so adamantly denounces than she knows.
Sincerely,
Geneviève M. Clavreul, RN, Ph.D.
The link to the article is here: http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2495
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