To the Journal editor:

How sad for the UP Health Marquette nurses to have been forced to come to the decision to strike: see Mining Journal stories in Sept. 23 and Sept. 24.

Getting to the point of making the decision to strike is not done easily or done lightly. Nurses, as professionals, do not believe in striking. Nor do they believe in walking a picket line, or crossing a picket line (a scab). So what do you do? A pretty hard decision to make.

And how sad for Duke LifePoint Marquette. Why are you not building good, solid, trusting relationships with your new community? What are you thinking? Working 16 hours is a health hazard, especially as a nurse. Working 10-12 hours could be difficult, depending on any given situation or condition.

Why do you think mistakes are made and accidents happen? The brain cannot function on an optimal level under these conditions. You are in the health care business (Duke LifePoint). Why are you not taking this into consideration when you listen to your nurses tell you of their concerns?

When accidents happen and mistakes are made, lives are sometimes lost, or maybe damaged for life. Would you want it to be the one of your loved ones? Your spouse or your son or daughter, or mother or father, or perhaps yourself? And the thing of it is, the nurse also pays a very high price; the possibility of a suspended or total loss of licensure, therefore loss of his or her chosen profession and the ability to make a living at the profession.

This mistake can happen through no real fault of his/her own if he/she is attempting to work more hours than is feasibly possible for fear of losing his/her job. The other aspect of a serious mistake is living with the guilt of what happened.

Yes, I know you have to watch the budget, but cutting nursing hours is not the answer. Nurses are the mainstay of the hospital. The nurse taking care of the patient is who is remembered and who also represents the hospital he/she works in. Nurses are everywhere; hospitals, clinics, offices, industrial plants, home care, cruise ships, the military and more.

Without nurses there is no health care. Without health care, you would not have a business and you would not have a job in your chosen field. Think about how you would feel if you had to resort to talking a picket line to impress on your employer how strongly you feel about some ethical situation in your job. Nursing is not just a job, it is a chosen profession by a special kind of person.

Yes, I am angry and I am also sad. I applaud and support the nurses at UPHS-Marquette for trying to take care of their patients in the way they know how and also for taking care of their own health.