Rutland Herald Letter To The Editor

Hooray for these Vermont nurses!!!

Nurses don't ask for gifts

October 29, 2005
Many of you in the Rutland community may have recently received a letter from the chief nursing officer of Rutland Regional Medical Center, asking you for a donation to the "Honor a Rutland Regional Medical Center Nurse" program. The donations are reportedly being placed in a fund for nursing education and for upgrades in patient equipment. The letter encourages you — our patients and your families — to send a donation for this fund in honor of "our remarkable nurses at Rutland Regional Medical Center whose compassion and professionalism have impressed you and is worthy of recognition," as stated by the chief nursing officer of RRMC.

Let it be known that many nurses at RRMC apologize for this letter you received. We had no knowledge of the letter's existence; nor did we have knowledge of the stated fund's existence. Many of our colleagues, neighbors, and family members received these letters, and this is how the RRMC nurses learned that our patients were being asked for donations in our names.

We do not question the intentions of our chief nursing officer in sending you the letter you received. We know that her intentions were not to upset the RRMC nurses, and certainly not the community. However, we would like our patients and their families to know that we do not approve of asking you for monetary donations to show your gratitude for what we do. Had we known about these letters before they were sent out, we would have voiced our disapproval.

We would like you, our patients, to know that your kind words, your cards and letters, your smiles, and your thank-yous that you give to us, far exceed any monetary donations we would receive for showing us the recognition for a job well done. We, as nurses, strive to maintain our professionalism, and we feel that requesting donations from you is not acting in a professional manner. For those of you who already have sent a donation to this fund, we sincerely thank you. However, we want you to know that the nurses who cared for you were very aware of your gratitude before you even left the hospital, as we are for all of our patients.

Once again, we apologize for the letter you received in the mail. We do not condone asking you to fund our profession, our continuing education, or any other professional endeavor we may take on. We love being nurses, and we have a deep compassion for those we nurse. This is gratifying enough for us.

LAUREN OBERG, R.N.

Rutland

(Sixteen additional nurses also signed this letter.)