From the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter
October 2010 Edition
View PDF with photos
Question 3, which will be on the ballot on Nov. 2, will, if passed, cut the state sales tax by over 50 percent. This will result in a $2.5 billion loss of state revenue and the fallout will mean cuts to local services and drastic increases in property taxes.
Here are just some of the reasons why your fellow nurses and health care professionals are voting NO on Question 3.
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because I do not want my hospital to close. I work at Boston Medical Center, where they have already closed an emergency room that serves the local community. This will have a devastating effect on the vulnerable patients I see. Community hospitals like BMC need investment from the state to survive.”
— Lisa Sawtelle, Kingston RN, Boston Medical Center
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because Western Massachusetts doesn’t need any more cuts to local services. Our communities, and particularly our community hospitals, already live on a shoestring in this part of the state. Cutting state revenues by $2.5 billion would just make that problem worse.”
— Donna Stern, Greenfield RN, Baystate Franklin Medical Center
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because I cannot stand by and watch as services to people with severe mental illness are cut again and again. Our state’s safety net has become a thread, and passage of Question 3 will sever even that thread. The patients I see at Taunton State Hospital will have nowhere to go and will end up clogging our already overcrowded emergency rooms.”
— Karen Coughlin, Mansfield RN, Taunton State Hospital
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because I don’t want to see school nurse services cut even further. In Taunton, where I work, they have already eliminated two full-time nurses. We have 786 children in our school system with asthma, 28 with diabetes, and 494 with ADHD/ADD. These children need a quality education, but they won’t get one without enough school nurses to manage their health.”
— Chris Kimball, Taunton RN, Taunton Public Schools
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because I am concerned about services in my local community. I have young children and my kids need good schools to go to, vibrant public libraries to use and strong public safety services to protect them. Passage of Question 3 would result in terrible cuts to all of the local services my family depends on.”
— Jacqui Fitts, Taunton RN, Morton Hospital
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“I am voting NO on Question 3 because in Worcester they have already cut health servildren in Worcester who have chronic health problems. Who is going to take care of them so they can be in school and learn?”
— Tami Hale, Worcester RN, Worcester Public Schools
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