June 1, 2001 - As populations decline in rural areas, providing access to medical care becomes more difficult. Medical providers attending a rural technology conference this week in Fargo had a chance to see how technology can improve access and quality of care. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson reports.
June 1, 2001 - The Minnesota Nurses' Association is getting ready to present contract proposals from 7 Twin Cities hospitals to 5500 nurses over the next two days. While the bargaining units for the hospitals and the union seem optimistic that the rank and file membership will approve the agreements, some nurses are expressing disappointment. Since the hospitals and union started contract talks in February, nurses have been asking for better working conditions and higher pay. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 1, 2001 - A scheduled strike by registered nurses at 7 Twin Cities Hospitals is now off after a long night of negotiations. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association and 7 Twin Cities hospitals have averted a strike, at least for now. A spokewsoman with the Minnesota Nurses Association says they're delaying their strike plans for most of the hospitals until 5:30 Sunday morning so the nurses can review the new contract proposals from the hospitals and schedule votes for tomorrow. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 4, 2001 - The Mayo Clinic is latest major employer to announce changes in employee retirement benefits as the baby boom generation prepares to exit the workforce. The changes scheduled to go into effect over the next two years, target the current pension plan and post-retirement medical benefits. Minnesota Public Radio's Erin Galbally reports:
June 5, 2001 - Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Associaiton and Allina Health Systems say they'll meet again today to "explore options" regarding the recount of votes by nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. The union says it conducted 3 recounts of the ratification of the vote on Sunday and would only say the tally "was in doubt." The union did recounts at two other hospitals as well and say they turned up no discrepencies. Meanwhile, 15-hundred nurses from two Fairview Hospitals continue to walk picket lines. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 5, 2001 - Nurses at two Minneapolis hospitals will remain on the job even though they may have rejected a contract proposal last weekend by a single vote. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association say they discovered a voting mixup only after telling Allina Health System that nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute had ratified the contract. And by then -- from a legal standpoint -- it was too late to correct the mistake. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 6, 2001 -
June 6, 2001 - LIVE INTRO: Meetings will be held today between registered nurses at two Allina Health System hospitals, attornies, and representatives of the Minnesota Nurses Association. At issue....what happened that a contract ratification vote was miscounted...with nurses learning yesterday, that they actually had turned DOWN the contract, by one vote, instead of approving it, as the MNA had reported. While those meetings get underway, nurses at two Fairview Hospitals enter a fourth day of picketing. Nursing unions across the country are watching the Fairview walkout, and the contracts that other TwinCities hosptals have signed recently with nurses. Susan Bianchi-Sand (bee-ON-kee Sand) is the director of the United American Nurses based in Washington, D.C. The Minnesota Nurses Association is affiliated with that group. Bianchi-Sand says many eyes are on the Twin Cities.
June 7, 2001 - A look at lower cancer rates in Minnesota with Stephen Hecht, Wallin professor of cancer prevention at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center.
June 12, 2001 - More than 13-hundred nurses at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and Fairview Riverside in Minneapolis are beginning their 10th day on strike this morning (Tuesday). A federal mediator has not scheduled new contract talks to end the strike and neither side is showing any signs of resuming negotiations. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...