28-year Forum worker has issues with union leadership

28-year Forum worker has issues with union leadership
EDITOR:
I am a 28-year hourly associate employee of Forum Health, and I am greatly saddened by what has been taking place over the last year. I have to reach out to my union brothers and sisters at Forum Health Northside Medical Center, or forever hold my peace.
Mr. Regan keeps talking about how men and women who are not part of this community are making decisions for us. I have been working out of the corporate office of Forum Health since last year, and I have watched how hard Dr. Ghezzi and his team are working to try to save Forum Health. Can Mr. Regan say the same for his members? It seems he is making decisions for them. Also, Mr. Regan is not a member of this community and conducts his press conferences by telephone from his office in Columbus. I do not believe he is acting in the best interest of his local union membership.
He has said that Forum is not complying with his requests for data, and yet a newspaper article dated 1/12/07 stated, "Through much of 2006, the SEIU leadership was critical of the hospital for not supplying it with financial and other information." That same article goes on to say: "However, today, Regan says Forum Health has been responsive to all of its requests. 'We are in the position to negotiate an agreement,' Regan said." Those were his words; he said it, so let's do it!
If there is a strike, I believe Northside Medical Center will close. It there are no concessions given by SEIU or YGDNA, I believe Northside Medical Center will close. I am amazed Mr. Regan can sleep at night, knowing he may be putting 2,000 people out of work -- myself included.
Things are not looking good, but at least with the concessions that we and the AFSCME members have already given, Forum may have a chance of survival in some form. Again, I personally took the concessions a year ago, and it has not been that bad of a hit.
Forum Health employees need to ask ourselves: Would we rather pay a little toward our health insurance and take a couple less days off a year -- or would we rather have no health insurance and have all the days off we want, because we have no jobs?
I pray you all consider this very seriously, because after the final decisions are made, there will be no going back. I also ask our community to please continue to pray for Forum Health.
BRENDA POPA
Poland
YPD professionalism shows at scene of traffic accident
EDITOR:
So often we write letters of complaint, but neglect to write letters of praise. I am writing to voice my appreciation to two officers in the Youngstown Police Department. Unfortunately I did not think to ask their names, but I hope they see this letter and know it is to them.
My niece was involved in a one-car crash that banged her up and scared her pretty bad. There was a lot of blood and it was dark, so she was very scared. These two officers handled the situation with professionalism and with kind hearts.
My sister works at an alarm company, so when she got the call to go pick my niece up, she was unable to leave and called me to go. She told me the officer who called her was very quick to let her know that her daughter was OK. When I arrived at the scene, the officer that I talked to was very efficient but also very caring. He was a great help in calming my niece down. I would like to commend them both and let them know that there are people out here that appreciate them, because I am sure it is sometimes a thankless job to deal with all the negative comments they get.
My niece also told me that the paramedics and the towing company were very nice and efficient too. It is never a good experience to be in an accident, but it is comforting to know that it can be handled as efficiently, professionally, and caringly as it was in my niece's case.
KATHY AARON
Boardman