LABOR UPDATES
More Young Adults Are Homeless Across the country, tens of thousands of underemployed and jobless young people, many with college credits or work histories, are struggling to house themselves in the wake of the recession, which has left workers between the ages of 18 and 24 with the highest unemployment rate of all adults.
RNs Picket at UMass “12 Days of Grinchmas” The daily picketing, which began on Dec. 10 and will continue through Dec. 21, is being held for one hour each day. Nurses will hold Grinch-themed signs and candles, and sing some special UMass-oriented Grinchmas carols as part of their protest against deteriorating staffing conditions and management’s lack of concern for its patients and employees.
HEALTH CARE
“If I Had to Wait Until 67 for Medicare, I’d Be Dead” Sam Lewis, 65, had triple bypass surgery in late November. Just days before, when he first qualified for Medicare coverage, a checkup discovered three of his arteries were clogged with plaque).
For-Profit Prison Operator Sued for Wrongful Death Tennessee-based Corizon, which will receive $28 million this year to care for the state’s 9,200 inmates, joins the Minnesota Department of Corrections as a second defendant in a case that throws a spotlight on the quality of medical care received by inmates.
FL Hospital Cuts Record Number of Jobs; Proceeds with Renovation However, the hospital system will move forward with its $300 million expansion and renovation of Orlando Regional Medical Center, which is under way, and its $50 million acquisition of Physician Associates, a large, primary-care medical practice.