Walnut Creek Kaiser nurses protest staffing shortages and "unsafe" conditions

It was hard not to miss if you were walking or driving along Newell Avenue or South Main Street this morning: 100 or more women and men in red shirts picketing in front of Kaiser Walnut Creek.

They were nurses, staging an informational picket, decrying "severe" staffing cuts at the medical center which they say are endangering patient safety.

This was a press release distributed by protesters and put out by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses Organizing Committee:

Administrators at Kaiser Walnut Creek are demanding severe cuts to hospital staff Registered Nurses, including cuts in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit and 3 North, where many of our community's most fragile and elderly patients are assigned.

Kaiser WC nurses are conducting an informational picket in order to alert our community of unsafe staffing that has been and continues to occur at the Center. It is an unusual occurrence for us to have to take such extreme measures, but Kaiser administrators are putting patient safety at risk and we as patient and community advocates must tell you the truth.

We need you to know that over the past year and a half hospital nurses have documented over 600 reports of unsafe staffing to the Chief Nurse Officer, Chief Operations Office and the Diablo Area Vice President of Patient Care Services to no avail.

What is worse, the employer is now planning on cutting 50 registered nurse positions that we believe will seriously jeopardize patient care and safety. Cuts are being made in departments where some of our most vulnerable patients are assigned. Our patients will be deprived of the time necessary for effective assessment, evaluation, treatments, and education for the conditions their illnesses require. The employer is
undermining our patients' rights when they eliminate resources necessary for
bedside care. There are well documented consequences for increased morbidity and
mortality of patients when fewer resources are provided.

Kaiser has no reason to cut staff and is only doing so to further increase their
billion-dollar profits. Please assist us in our effort to provide safe, quality,
therapeutic care for our community and tell Kaiser that cuts to RN staff are
unacceptable and harmful to patients.

Does not reporting on suicide enhance the stigma of suicide and mental illness?

Monday's Walnut Creek Patch story about a 54-year-old man who apparently leaped to his death from Kaiser medical center's four-story garage prompted discussion about whether suicide is "news." That is, whether it is worth reporting. Inherent in the question are several possible beliefs.

One is that suicide is shameful and the man who died, Michael Spence of Livermore, should be spared that kind label attached to his death. The other is that reporting on suicides might give other people ideas.

Editor Dave Mills pointed out that news organizations usually report on suicides only if they happen in a public place where the event could have been witnessed by others. That is true. News organizations rarely report on suicides if the person overdoses on pills or shoots himself in the in the privacy of his own home.

You rarely see suicide mentioned as the cause of death in an obituary. However, sometimes you can pick up hints, if the person was fairly young and died suddenly and the family, in lieu of flowers, asks that donations be made to an organization such as the National Alliance on Mental Health.

One time, I did come across an obituary of a young man--yes, I am one of those people who scan the obituaries in the Contra Costa Times most mornings--and his family was very forthright in saying that their handsome son, in his 20s, died by taking his own life. The obituary explained that he had been dealing with the demons of depression and other terrifying symptoms of mental illness since he was a teenager.

My throat tightened with sadness for this family, but also with awe at their courage. They were not going to hide in shame at the cause of his death. They were going to be upfront that their son, like someone with cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, had a chronic and sometimes life-threatening illness. And, he died of that illness, not from some character or moral defect. With this obituary, the family was bravely doing its part to chip away at the stigma that surrounds mental illness and suicide.

Suicide is a major killer of Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health and Centers for Disease Control. In 2007,34,598 people died of self-inflicted injuries, making it the 11th leading cause of death, behind heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and accidents, including 41,059 who died in traffic accidents. That same year, 16,929 people were murdered. Suicide is also the seventh leading cause of death for men, the 15th for women, and the third for teens and young adults 15 to 24.

Over the past few years, researchers have noticed a disturbing trend: suicide rates for middle-aged people are edging up. "Men have long had higher rates of suicide than women, and whites in the United States are more likely to kill themselves than are African, Hispanic, or Asian Americans," according to an article on the Good Men Project website. "But it’s only in recent years that the middle-aged have overtaken older people as the ones most likely to die by suicide. In 2007 (the latest year for which statistics are available), people aged forty-five to fifty-four had the highest suicide rate of any age group: 17.7 per 100,000.

It's not yet known what was going on in the life of Michael Spence that prompted him to take that final leap. The National Institute of Mental Health says risk factors for suicide include depression and other mental disorders, and substance abuse (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors. Other risk factors include a family history of suicide, mental illness, violence, or physical or sexual abuse.

The Walnut Creek-based Contra Costa Crisis Center, which runs the 24-hour crisis lines for the county, said there is no typical suicide victim. "Suicide transcends all ages beginning with adolescence, all ethnicities and cultures, all socio-economic groups, and all religions, as well as gender, sexual orientation, and ablebodiness.:

The center says there are some common warning signs. They include:

• Talking about suicide or making statements revealing a desire to die.
• Drastic changes in behavior (withdrawal, apathy, moodiness).
• Losing interest in hobbies and in personal appearance.
• Depression (crying, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, hopelessness)
• Worsening academic or job performance and sudden failure to complete assignments.
• Lack of interest in activities and surroundings (dropping out of sports and clubs).
• Settling affairs (giving away prized possessions such as books or a CD collection).
• Increased moodiness, irritability, or aggressiveness.
• Remarks suggesting profound unhappiness, despair, or feelings of worthlessness.
• Death and suicidal themes in written work.
• Self-destructive behavior (taking unnecessary risks or increased drug or alcohol use).

If you are in a life-threatening situation, call 911. If you're in crisis, call 800-273-TALK (8255) to reach the nearest, nationally-certified crisis center. Residents of Contra Costa County can also reach the crisis line by calling 800-833-2900.