Editor:

At this election, I hope all voters will consider the harsh effects of Washington’s continuing and now permanent vaccine requirement for state workers. Recently the loss of approximately 3,000 health care workers became obvious to me during an ER visit.

With all the rooms full, my cart was rolled into a hallway niche. What bothered me most was that it was hard to get a nurse’s attention. With no call light and an IV in each arm, I tried hard knocking on the window next to me to people at computers on the other side. Worse yet was an old man in a room near me crying out “nurse…nurse” and then plaintively “person…person” as he coughed, snorted, swore, yelled and was ignored. Finally he was in the doorway yelling. Eventually staff came and with his oxygen back in place, he became grateful for care that could have been given earlier if there had been sufficient nurses. This was not a hospital TV show.

If we ask why the national shortage of health care workers has been exacerbated in our state, it’s easy to attribute it to the excessive use of emergency powers by our governor. His powers have remained unlimited by the legislature, and for that reason all incumbents of the dominant party deserve to be voted out of office. We need to recognize the great deal of damage done by choosing all new legislators.

Shirley Oczkewicz
Edmonds