To the editor:

As a health care professional and someone who- knows many Inova Health System employees, it distresses me to see this excellent health care provider attempt to reduce costs and save money by telling their valued registered nurses not to come to work because of reduced patient census. 

Were talking about Inova Health System registered nurses being called on a routine basis two hours in advance of their scheduled arrival time and then cut immediately for that days shift, or maybe put on call if needed, or a combination of the two. This business practice has become the norm, not the exception for the Inova Health System.

Inova Health System is a Northern Virginia based nonprofit corporation that provides world-class health care to all of us, with a Northern Virginia CEO attaining a salary package to include benefits and deferred compensation of $1.3 million in 2008 as reported by the Washingtonian. Its own website states the following, And at Inova we show commitment to our nurses everyday.
I ask the public, in a time of medical crisis and immediate need, would you welcome the arms of a registered nurse? The next time you see an Inova nurse, please thank her or him it may be the only appreciation they ever receive. 

Steve Gill
Fairfax