JasonSchwartz + SCOTT R BUSHNELL & STEPHANIE CASTRO – Hospital Strike- 241104 Stephanie Castro is a shop steward with the union at Maui health Outpatient clinic. Staffing issues and being paid On Par with neighboring Kaiser Permanente Associates next door, are notable issues to be addressed. Maui Memorial Hospital
Summary & Transcript
Jason Schwarz and co-host Scott Bushnell open the show at the Neutral Zone Maui discussing health, lifestyle, and current events. Scott shares his personal health regimen emphasizing a Paleo diet with no carbs, which has improved his joint health. The hosts mention the recent passing of Quincy Jones, highlighting his profound influence on music.
The conversation shifts to a critical community issue: a strike by healthcare workers at Maui Memorial Hospital beginning November 4th. This is the first system-wide strike in Maui’s medical system history, involving nurses, janitorial staff, and other healthcare support roles. The strike is a response to wages and staffing not keeping pace with Maui’s rising cost of living, compounded by increased operational costs such as electricity.
Key points discussed include:
- The high cost of living on Maui, with electricity rates averaging 43 cents per kilowatt-hour, affecting operational budgets.
- Hospitals must balance fair labor compensation with rising costs, but failure to pay fair wages leads to staff shortages and reliance on expensive traveling nurses.
- The emotional and physical demands of healthcare work, especially in an island environment, require a supportive and adequately compensated workforce.
- Comparisons to other industries show starting wages at large chains like McDonald’s approaching $20/hr, pressuring smaller businesses and healthcare systems.
- The impact of insufficient wages and staffing on family life and community stability is emphasized, illustrating how economic pressures drive employees away.
- [18:21 → 47:46] Interview with Stephanie Castro, Union Steward for UNAC/UHCP
Stephanie Castro, representing the United Nurses Association of California/Union Healthcare Professionals (UNAC/UHCP), joins the discussion as a key spokesperson for the striking healthcare workers at Maui Health. She provides detailed insights into the strike’s causes and demands.
Union Representation and Membership:
- Over 900 members at Maui Health are represented, including nurses, MRI techs, physical therapists, speech pathologists, clerical staff, and others both at the hospital and outpatient clinics.
- UNAC/UHCP is a larger organization with over 40,000 members spanning California and Hawaii, providing broad support.
- Safe staffing ratios: Ensuring appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios based on patient acuity is critical for quality care and worker safety.
- Fair wages: Current wages are significantly lower (10–30%) than nearby Kaiser Permanente clinic workers, despite Kaiser managing Maui Health.
- Confusion over management: Maui Health is managed by Kaiser Permanente but remains a separate entity, complicating contract negotiations and wage parity.
- Retention challenges: Many healthcare workers consider leaving Maui due to low pay relative to cost of living, risking loss of deeply rooted community members with multi-generational ties to the hospital.
- Emotional toll: Working in healthcare is described as an emotional commitment beyond a 9-to-5 job, caring for patients who are often family or community members.
- Negotiations stalled after management rejected proposed staffing agreements, leading to the strike.
- The strike is limited and close-ended (three days), with workers returning to negotiate further.
- There is frustration over management’s unwillingness to compromise and the cascading effects on staffing and patient care.
Operational Impact:
- Maui Health claims operations continue but with strain.
- Staffing shortages result in overburdened providers (e.g., outpatient providers seeing 60+ patients daily).
- Clerical and support staff also affected by patient backlogs and appointment delays.
Traveling Nurses:
- Temporary traveling nurses are brought in at higher pay rates, increasing costs and creating resentment among permanent staff.
- The union argues that investing in existing staff wages and retention would be more cost-effective and foster stability.
Broader Community Impact:
- Maui Memorial Hospital is the critical healthcare hub for the island.
- Workforce shortages threaten community health outcomes.
- The high cost of living and lack of affordable housing worsen recruitment and retention.
- The strike highlights systemic issues, including shrinking tax revenues and bureaucratic hurdles inhibiting effective solutions.
Stephanie calls for community support by contacting Maui Health Administration and Kaiser Permanente leadership to advocate for fair wages and staffing.
The hosts and Stephanie reflect on the broader social and political context:
- The emotional and physical burden on healthcare workers requires recognition and appropriate compensation.
- Similar challenges affect other frontline professions like teachers.
- The local community’s response to the strike has been supportive, with visible solidarity from drivers and residents.
- The upcoming national election adds to uncertainties but underscores the need for unity and mutual care.
- Concerns arise about voter engagement, ballot measure clarity, and the challenge of communicating complex issues to all demographics, especially older voters who may be less connected digitally.
- The discussion highlights the need for simpler, clearer information and more inclusive participation in democratic processes.
Stephanie and hosts express hope for a swift resolution to the strike and emphasize the importance of community involvement to support Maui’s healthcare workers.
Final Key Takeaways:
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Strike Duration | 3 days (close-ended), returning to work on Thursday, further negotiations to follow |
| Union Membership | 900+ members at Maui Health, part of 40,000+ UNAC/UHCP members |
| Core Issues | Safe staffing ratios, fair wages, wage parity with Kaiser clinic staff, retention of local staff |
| Economic Context | Maui’s high cost of living, electricity rates, housing shortages, rising operational costs |
| Impact on Care | Overworked staff, longer patient wait times, risk to quality and safety of care |
| Community Role | Maui Memorial as island’s critical healthcare hub, strong community ties among staff |
| Negotiation Status | Stalled after management rejected staffing proposals; union seeking compromise |
| Traveling Nurses | Higher cost, temporary solution that undermines permanent staff retention |
| Public Support | Encouraged to contact Maui Health/Kaiser leadership, join strike line for solidarity |
- [59:50 → End] Closing Remarks and Music
The show ends with a musical tribute titled “Peace in Our Hearts” by Louise Lambert, symbolizing hope for peace amid social and political challenges. The hosts emphasize the importance of love, unity, and mutual care regardless of political outcomes or ongoing community struggles.
Summary
This episode of the Neutral Zone Maui focuses primarily on the Maui Memorial Hospital healthcare workers’ strike, an unprecedented system-wide labor action addressing critical issues of unsafe staffing ratios, inadequate wages, and the challenges of retaining skilled healthcare workers amid Maui’s rising cost of living. Union steward Stephanie Castro provides an insider perspective revealing the complexity of negotiations, the confusion around Kaiser Permanente’s role, and the deep community impact of strained healthcare services.
The discussion underscores the emotional and physical demands of healthcare work, the economic realities facing workers, and the broader systemic challenges including bureaucratic hurdles, shrinking funding, and a housing crisis impacting recruitment and retention. The strike is portrayed as a necessary but difficult step to secure fair treatment for workers and ensure quality care for the community.
Additionally, the program touches on the broader social climate around the impending national election and challenges in voter education, emphasizing the need for clarity, transparency, and participation.
The episode closes with a call for community support and solidarity, paired with a hopeful musical message advocating peace and understanding.
Key Insights
- Fair wages and safe staffing are essential to maintain quality healthcare and retain skilled local workers in Maui’s high-cost environment.
- The management structure involving Kaiser Permanente complicates wage parity and contract negotiations.
- Temporary reliance on traveling nurses is costly and disrupts workforce stability.
- The strike is a reflection of broader social, economic, and political stresses affecting healthcare and frontline workers.
- Public awareness of the strike and its implications remains limited, underscoring the need for better communication.
- The healthcare workforce’s emotional commitment to their community is profound but currently undervalued.
- Political and bureaucratic challenges hinder swift, effective problem-solving in public services.
- Community support and advocacy are vital to advancing fair labor conditions and improving healthcare outcomes.
Keywords
Maui Memorial Hospital, healthcare strike, union, safe staffing ratios, fair wages, cost of living, Kaiser Permanente, traveling nurses, labor negotiations, healthcare workforce, community health, Maui, labor costs, healthcare retention, mental health services, frontline workers, public support, election, voter engagement, bureaucracy.
FAQ
Q: What is the main reason for the Maui Memorial Hospital strike?
A: The strike is primarily about unsafe staffing ratios and insufficient wages that do not keep pace with Maui’s high cost of living.
Q: How long is the strike scheduled to last?
A: It is a close-ended strike lasting three days, with workers returning to the negotiating table after.
Q: Who is involved in the strike?
A: Over 900 union members including nurses, MRI techs, therapists, clerical, and support staff at Maui Health.
Q: What is the relationship between Maui Health and Kaiser Permanente?
A: Kaiser manages Maui Health but it remains a separate entity, leading to confusion over wage parity and contract negotiations.
Q: How does the strike affect patient care?
A: Staffing shortages increase workloads, reduce quality of care, and cause appointment delays, impacting patient safety.
Q: How can the public support the healthcare workers?
A: By contacting Maui Health and Kaiser Permanente leadership to advocate for fair wages and staffing, and showing solidarity with the striking workers.
Q: Why are traveling nurses used and what is the issue with them?
A: Traveling nurses fill staffing gaps but are paid higher rates, increasing costs and potentially undermining permanent staff morale and retention.
This comprehensive summary captures all key points and insights strictly grounded in the provided transcript content.
Transcript
00:00
[Music] who that’s a first Aloha this is Jason Schwarz I’m here this is the neutral zone Maui neutral zone.com we have a couple of guests that will be joining us we were a little disoriented I don’t think I’ve ever seen the show start without us oh my no that I’m here with uh my co-host Scott R Bushnell man in the field looking great thank you I haven’t been um see you in a while I guess cuz I haven’t been able to get in the water to swim so no carbs is your secret yeah no carbs just doing the
00:50
Paleo eating meat uh no uh no breads no pastas no rice no potatoes and it feels great I feel great my joints feel absolutely incredible oh that’s amazing and good to hear yeah and greens and greens GRE you good stuff yeah yeah stuff that uh basically grass-fed stuff that eats grass yeah all the good stuff grass Fred and and stuff that eats grass yeah that’s all it all works you know we are November fourth um one thing I noted just this morning Quincy Jones just died oh no 93 years old a healthy good life long great
01:36
life good long life he was a very huge influence and um I was all around him I never did meet him in La I was thinking about definitely had a voice an& Studio what he he had that he had that voice it was so nice oh well but he was didn’t he Soul Trainor oh no no no no that was I’m thinking that’s anotherus another guy okay yeah Quincy Jones was the composer and the sweet wrote parts and themes and involved a lot of music now I’ve got it now I’ve got it you’re you’re the music guy
02:12
things like we are the world everyone remembers that from great stuff but Quincy Jones was always just a great character I I am um just looking here now I see um we are expecting a couple of people that are whereare they they’re on the picket line at Maui Memorial Hospital just this morning November 4th right I don’t understand exactly they’re on a a limited strike for a few days well it’s it’s a it’s the first strike mau’s had across the entire medical system over there usually they’ve had
02:48
one department or another department but through the last about five years and they’ll explain this much better than I can the the local nurses and nurses at Clin have been getting cost of living pay raises that are keeping them in Step so they’re not falling behind and our nurses and our janitorial staff and everybody that takes good care of us and took care of us through all of the covid stuff and did all that and was staying on the line their salaries and their compensations and their everything have
03:22
just fallen behind and they really I I you know I for somebody like myself who spends way too much time in the hospital I truly truly appreciate these people well I know that um the only way I look at it is I was looking at electricity now I just looked at it because I was looking at all the stuff going on with solar and the world whatever and 43 cents average per kilowatt here 7 9 12 15 C 6 s 20 yeah even 25 we’re 43 like our costs are so much higher so when when the hospital says well well your share will be more my share of
04:13
what rising cost from rising cost yeah if you don’t count labor and give labor a way to uh pay right right how do you pay for that labor you’re right so it keeps driving the costs up but I don’t see any more alternative in place so you have to pay your people but you have to raise your prices right well I you know Hospital you know I I’m I am no specialist in this no but you have to pay your people you and I you have to pay you have to keep them around if you don’t and you’re keeping it down it’s
04:49
like and then you bring on transient workers not transient travel traveling nurses that get a greater pay greater pay yeah and what do that to so so you spank them for a few days to pay traveling nurse fees on right because they come out to show them that it’s going to be worse if you don’t pay us a little bit more why does it get down to that I you that always has uh befuddled me it’s like you know what that field is so emotionally charged because the clientele you’re dealing with people
05:24
that are sick infirmed injured that is so high stress you want to make that work environment as positive as you can possibly make it and if you’re not hearing your people ask for help and say hey it’s in this is increasing and we are not negotiating well or our salaries and everything have fallen way below yeah yeah I I I get that and that you’ve hit it right on the nose with the traveling nurses people always call Jason’s so popular guys during the show it just shows you people are just they’re not
06:05
watching live much so you can find us at Mau neutral zone.com dream maui.com go on YouTube Dream maui1 probably you know what this subject is a live subject but it’ll be very important tomorrow so if you’re early in the show and you think this is just about this one issue so many people here are not being paid a wage that’s commensurate with the cost of living here what and what’s happened Jason is and this is what I’ve noticed with my friends in the restaurant business yeah is that we have like we
06:46
have the big chains here we have the McDonald’s we have Burger King we have a lot of those and now they are starting people at closer to $20 an hour to work at McDonald’s right so so everybody that’s working in the other restaurant Fields are going like well I’ve been here N9 years and I’m only making 1650 or $17 and all of a sudden they’re going like well so the emotional impact it’s not that the restaurants aren’t cutting their employees in on their profits it’s the profits are
07:20
getting narrower and narrower for Mom and Pop where if you’re a big Corporation or a conglomerate you can spread the wealth a little bit better you have stronger buying power there’s so we’re I think we’re in an adjustment phase right now we just saw the larg Kaiser is a big hug big player big big big player and they may have money in another pocket that either we know or don’t know about but don’t don’t you have to pay your employees well it’s it’s where you know let’s go back to you
07:54
know Ford what did what did uh what did Ford say you know you you feed him peanuts you get elephant or you get you know you get feed them bananas you get monkeys you feed them a living wage and you get a good employee so no I mean that’s not a very good quote I can’t remember no but I know that was an interesting one yeah it’s like you feed them peanuts you get no but uh let’s let’s step back one step we have this hospital that’s critical on This Island mission to me they even have to train people going in
08:27
to replace these nurses and more than nurses right this is this is everybody this is everybody that does a laundry that keeps the floors clean that it’s got to be difficult in that it’s across the board yeah so what what what about the people that are in there now bye-bye well no no they’re they they they I I read the statement from the hospital they’re keeping everything running but you know they’re running they’re taking care of us the people that live here but my goodness we’ve got people that are
09:01
they need to be taken care of the people that take care of us is our is our crew here yet not yet I haven’t met any of them but I hear they’re okay really good whoever they are we obviously welcome them if they come I know that today’s the day before election day yeah and you know I already know you’re talking the national election yeah I’m scared only in that I still don’t believe after the election people peace will prevail I don’t either way I don’t think there’ll
09:32
be peace so that’s my concern yeah and my concern is that you and I and not you and I yeah but you you you guy the guy on the couch there that that um we don’t learn to love and help each other right cross all barriers all borders if you’re not in the burn zone or not if you’re yeah that’s the there are so many people suffering right now and I believe that emergency needs to be declared and exercised get a bed for everyone try to create some kind of safe Zone stuff that we’ve all talked about all these years
10:13
do you know that was when VI Mike Victorino was in he had a year L they were talking 200 Grand to set up a a safe zone right behind the police station near Meo near that field the Cameron Center spot right there right I understood there were no biders no one bid no one wanted that job well you to bid and then it never came up again the bidding process here is really difficult what that may be but yeah I I looked at before the bidding process who this is what I’m talking about what are we all
10:49
doing we have no one that’s going to be in charge of solving this problem because it’s been not legislated on to get the money we go back to isues we get the money but then we’ve got midlevel bureaucrats that aren’t elected that are controlling how the bids are placed they’re controlling who can bid nobody bid because you’ve got to go through this it would take you three or four years just to get on the list of being able to bid oh also in this example it’s not somebody
11:22
$200,000 yeah if you just was not considered adequate to make a fair profit to be able to 10 10 people on island that can walk in and bid like that we have we’ve we’ve I don’t think so I think less I mean I’m the reason I’m bringing it up is because it’s now been years the problem’s gotten worse there’s still no safe spot yeah you and I both know old people that are disabled at different levels definely that are still on the street and facing a hard ship every day day yeah it’s horrible
11:57
you know the the thievery on the street is that that’s always been sad I’ve well and it’s not getting any better and it seems that the like that kii col park strip MH is a it’s not that it’s plagued with homeless it’s that the people that are there aren’t safe because there are some people in our take they take advantage take advantage of them of each other of each other that’s just mindboggling to me they’re just yeah someone told me a story a woman she’s 76 years old that
12:34
while she was sleeping with her suitcases in the park they come and they took everything out of her suitcases replaced it with dirty stuff and all kind of stuff remember took her stuff out she didn’t even know about it here was eight months later when she’s going through her stuff she realizes she doesn’t have any of her stuff they cleaned her out yeah it’s uh you know or someone gets their teeth broken on the street and the police come and think oh it’s one of those guys it’s I so what do
13:05
we do you try to get help we had last week I’m I know I’m ranting I’m yeah you’re on your rant we had Linda Linda uh Pao from Mal a foundation she was terrific good people but now she’s the executive director and her job is to get the money right to be able to provide services for the community that job means that all these nonprofits and all these agencies looking for the money to be able to be create the people to be able to do the job to be our services yeah if we’re cutting down a tax revenue and and
13:47
we’re don’t have the money so that when someone’s like let’s use Tasha K on Council when Tasha said she doesn’t have enough information or sometimes it’s budgetary it’s like I see that sometimes the big bad wolf is labeled as a big bad wolf because they’re not letting something through that’s for the people but there’s no money for they’re spending tons tons of money studying how to do something when you should just go do it well again you say that but
14:19
there’s two different views you can’t do it if you don’t have money to pay the people or I don’t even have the people how are we going to help the people here and bring construction people from the mainland when there’s nowhere for them to live and how are we going to continue our services at the rate that they’re going now when we’re getting less and less Revenue into the coffers to be able to pay for the services that we want how is it that not that long ago are we
14:50
asking questions we are we’re asking questions so not not that many years ago they built the Empire State Building in one year it was considered an amazing feat of engineering laborers to build the Empire State Building today they figure the Empire State Building built as it is now would take 7 to 12 years to complete things have changed that’s rules and regulations that have changed the people who are actually riveting putting steel together putting glass in and building the building those people
15:28
are all incredibly skilled laborers so what’s changed we have this whole new layer of people telling them to we’ve got to do it this way or do it that way that aren’t actually working I work in the mental health field one day a week I work for parents and children together I teach anger management classes and what I see and I have seen since I’ve started in that field back in the early 90s actually in the 80s is that at one time I had one person to answer to and I had one report to write for every class that
16:03
I taught now I have three different reports to write for each student that I teach every time that go to three different agencies so I go out work at the jail one day a week I teach x amount of people I teach an evening class I teach x amount of people but to get the monies they have to I think we might have our guest here they have to make sure that all those middle people are there not yet filling out the paperwork and that’s we’ve created a boond doggle almost no again so using that in is a
16:44
great example yeah so here comes Elon Musk at the senior level oh she’s walking them in here they come oh good good here we go yeah come on in okay I’m goingon to SC Susie hang on a second okay we’re going to bring some folks in from Maui Medical hey you want to open the door and do it yeah help him in Scott come on in hi I’m I’m Scott hi I’m Stephanie Stephanie come on have a seat now um Scott’s going to move over there I got my and you’re going to give you move over you sit down and we’ll set
17:22
up to you all right does that look good to you out there noce over your that’s what I’m saying over your shoulders so I’m going to move the mic over a little bit you it’s just you am I right yes did you want me to go on this side I’m just going to you stay where you are we’re getting it together folks I’m just going to get up because I want to move your mic over here in front of you oh here can do that yeah because you see how I sit here like this and Scott’s going to
17:47
be sort of like this be over here here let’s there we go we got this we got it we got it okay make we can’t wait your hold it we’re trying to figure this out you got it I got it nuts so you know this kind of distance is fine we just don’t want to be in front of your beautiful face but we want there we go all right we are laughing I see I can’t read we are it doesn’t say laughing oh we are you uhcp all right okay I don’t mean to be rude what’s your name my name is Stephanie Stephanie yes Welcome to
18:21
our show this is the neutral zone yeah up on the web you can find it on YouTube at dream maui1 or easy Maui neutral zone.com all you people out there in the land and we’re simoc cast on akaku Maui Community TV we have a special guest here in Stephanie Stephanie one more time you NAC uh CP what is all that stuff United Nurses Association of California Union healthc Care Professionals perfect okay good now we have been trying to dissect what’s going on over there cuz I was there the other
18:59
day I had this incredible MRI where they turned me upside down put in a spinal tap so I had to sit with one of the nurses for 2 hours CU I couldn’t leave me alone and I heard what was going on and I was like we need to make sure you folks are taken care of yeah you know I mean that’s why we’re out on the line this morning um we have over 900 members in our Union at Maui Health which covers anywhere from an MRI tech mamot tech physical therapist speech pathologists clerical staff so all the ones that
19:28
check you in for your procedures or check you in when you come into the Ed um and also down at the Mau Al patient Clinic okay and you’ve got more than that though don’t you you you have support you have you every layer over there yes cuz unak extends to California so there’s over 40,000 members um in unac and so there’s quite a bit of few people that came over um this weekend to help support us so they’re out there standing on the line with us as well oh good good good so let me ask simply they
19:58
boil you know the media says oh $5 an hour across the board raise they’re asking for is this a bundle of things you’re asking for there anything clear and what can we as the public do to share our support for you in wanting more money and other things so there’s many pieces right to the contract um and it would probably take me days to go over it with you no but the fact that you’re on strike something is not agree are there lots of sticking points or what’s going on I think the main ones
20:33
that we’ve we’ve kind of focused on is is Staffing um appropriate safe Staffing um which is like nurse to Patient ratios um and fair wages right because we talk about constantly how we compare ourselves to Kaiser clinic which right which is right next door to Maui health and our wages do not match Kaiser wages but you are kaiser aren’t you um well we’re told that we’re not Kaiser we’re a Kaiser affiliate hospital I okay now there’s something new so you know and people say well it’s
21:03
confusing right and and it’s confusing to us too so um I know that when I call patients for reminder calls that it says Kaiser on the caller ID yeah um and so when we get paid it’s by Kaiser on our paycheck so um it’s confusing for us and so I can only imagine how confusing it is for the general public oh definitely um so that’s one of the reasons why supposedly our wages don’t match um Kaiser wages because we’re not Kaiser that just do are they Daring Do You joins there is is can you I I’m just
21:42
totally lost in this whole thing because I thought you were all Kaiser this is a no what you know Kaiser took over management of the hospital right that wasn’t from the ground up a Kaiser so they have a different relationship so they consider it an entity unto itself separate and apart from Kaiser and so they’re probably their claim is it’s a separately thinking entity and our decisions at Kaiser have nothing to do with the decisions of that group okay something like that or well there if not
22:20
that’s why I’m looking I mean I would beg to differ I mean I’m I’m I’m more more than positive that they have um a say right in what the contract SES um and so that’s kind of where our confusion lies right so if upper management at Kaiser have a say in the contract then we are considered Kaiser right um in essence but um yeah I mean who’s sitting down at the table and if you talk about important a hospital that serves the whole island is is at least equally as important as a Kaiser health
22:55
center right next door never mind maybe should have a higher pay cuz that is extremely important for everyone in this whole County and you know to me I don’t understand that at all right and I think you know all other things aside the biggest part of it is fair wages right so a big part of it is you have many Health Care Professionals whether it be from nurses or clerical or even doctors that choose to leave Island right because they don’t make enough money here um for the cost of living and you
23:30
know the economy just keeps rising and Rising um and so I think Fair wages is that hey we at staff that we have staff we have nurses that were born in this Hospital right their their spouses were born in the hospital their kids were born in their Hospital some of them their grandkids are born in the hospital wow right so they have ties and roots to the community and I think the biggest part of that is when you have those type of people that are so embedded um within the community that are working at the
23:55
hospital those are the people that you’d want to keep right so I think that when you’re speaking on Fair wages you’re speaking of keeping those people here that actually have ties to the community and want to care for the community yeah what Jason and I were talking before you got here I I told him I said you know the hospital has saved my life I think three times now since the 80s I have been in there and rushed in and they they’ve kept me and I’m still here today thank you very much for all those years
24:23
but what I was telling him I said this isn’t just a 9-to-5 job this is an emotional commitment to people who are going through some of the worst times of their life and you’ve got to take that home and at least you should do is take home an equal if not better wage for taking on that burden I mean we’re not talking about you know some Hospital in La where you get somebody in you never see you’re going to get PE when you get folks in at the hospital you get uncles aunties you you those people are your
24:55
family that’s your aanaa that comes through the doors yep and so you know I’ve been in a lot of jobs that have to provide customer service right and in any customer service aspect they always tell you to treat them like they were your own family yeah well we don’t have to treat them like they were they are our families that are coming in and I think that that’s you know you touched a key point with us is we don’t have to pretend you know that we care about these patients these are our Nextdoor
25:17
neighbors these are you know um families where I coach basketball too on the side and so kids that come in you know to the Ed and stuff like that or families um they’re who we know right so yeah it’s it’s difficult it’s really hard to see um a lot of people considering I mean I’ve considered leaving the island just because you can’t afford it so exactly and we’re the you’re the ones we need to keep that kind of it honestly historically when you have an employee who is so dedicated to a working and
25:50
providing a service that is the most valuable thing that you can get it’s not it’s not common in today’s Workforce yeah you’re right is there an active thing going on right now where someone’s sitting in a negotiating table so there is nobody at bargaining right now our Union team is on the line um with us so it’s kind of frustrating because a lot of this a lot of this stem from Staffing right so we had a huge Staffing issue um management came to the table they decided that they were going to
26:23
negotiate and have clinical staff from management side and our clinical side kind of come together um in a separate room and kind of come up with Staffing ratios and um it seemed we had hope cuz it seemed like after that you know hours of them working it out that there would be some type of an agreement um and we waited days and on Friday they came in and basically said no to everything and so that kind of set off the final trigger is to you know we we had hope and then that and that meeting on Friday
26:53
it just kind of all got thrown to the wind oh sorry I there’s you’ve got it both people have to come to the table that just when they just say no yeah I mean then it I’m sorry that’s not right I mean I work at mental I work one day a week for parents and children together teaching in mental health field and I’ll tell you what the ratios and the people in theity community they’re not getting served as Jason and I have been talking about for months the ratio of those people who have underlying emotional and
27:26
mental things that are going on are ending up in the ER today because we no longer have a secondary system for mental health that takes care of those people so they’re just locked into the ER every time there’s something going on you guys are carrying the weight of everything that that needs to be done on the island for the the homeless for the disparaged for the emotionally people that are so far in and out of the spectrum and haven’t been able to hold on I I can’t believe that we can can’t
27:59
get get them to come to the table and take care of you that to me is yeah it’s it’s frustrating um you know I mean cuz I I worked in the Ed for a short period and now I’m down at the Alpa clinic so I kind of deal with more of the Specialists and I work in the Family Practice um okay over there at the Alpa clinic so we’re separate from the hospital but we’re Department of the hospital right um but you know even that like nonemergency care um you know we’re seeing providers that are not within
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Maui Health leaving the island and so we’re getting an influx of patients that need to find new providers right um and so you know we have two providers that are seeing over 60 patients a day oh so I mean and that’s overbearing on our nursing staff as well because if we have somebody call out or you know we don’t have enough staff that’s normally six to seven patients at a time in rooms that they have to take care of so not just on the clinical like the hospital side you’re seeing it at the outpatient as
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well and so you know just expressing that all these nurses and all the staff we’re fully overloaded right I mean even the cleric staff you know I’ve had the question people ask well how does Staffing ratios affect clerical right well we get it when patients can’t get an appointment right for a month right oh two three months my the reason the reason they say that they don’t have enough staff is because they don’t have enough budget right they don’t have enough money are there not enough
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candidates what’s the deal here well what’s the reason that we’re not getting I’m just asking and this is to whoever is out there looking yeah is it a money issue do you need to charge us more we we’ve seen that has been historically what happens yeah we need services and someone says we’re not making the profit levels that we find adequate and so we don’t have the money so I’m bringing it up specifically yeah I remember when Kaiser came in that was all supposed to
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be solved I thought that’s where we were going that was the reason that to bring things up to a level where we could go with the strength of the larger exact home anyway okay well that’s what you you kind of talked to some of those people that have been there since the transition and it’s broken promises is what they say right so things that were that said that we’re going to take a turn and and make better um we have yet to see those promises fulfilled okay so that’s that’s got to be hard another
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component that I don’t quite understand although I interact with some of these folks or some of the traveling nurses how how does that affect I mean do they come in at a higher pay rate or do they come in I I really honestly can’t speak on that I’m not certain I didn’t know how that played in I’m sure a traveling nurse has to have uh some kind yeah yeah so they’re going to be paid some kind of PDM deal that’s going to be an extra cost oh it’s got to be so we’re not
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really saving any money by bringing in traveling nurses if they would just bring enough to keep nurses and staff here right well it’s a very you know it’s a tough thing you know it’s like if you carry too much staff and you don’t need them for a while a lot of money goes out they say right but if you don’t you know you’re right it’s like are we training enough people locally I guess not if we can’t employ them I I feel that they could have saved a lot of money not going on strike cuz
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there’s a lot of staff that they brought in so I can only imagine the cost right for those stuff to come in and and to house them and to transport them and that’s kind of like another quote unquote Rel term slap in the face um to the staff you know that that money could have been put towards higher wages for the current stuff right and housing how you know when you say bringing in housing we were talking about construction all the solutions how do you bring people here when they need housing to be able to form the solutions
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and if you don’t have the budget and if you don’t have money coming in to Grant these agencies things are breaking down yeah but talk about key Services the health of our whole community in my mind is absolutely Maui Memorial Hospital Centric correct I don’t see any other then it was stopped years ago because they wanted to be Maui Memorial Centric there was talking about you remember probably the Westside Hospital so we’ve created this monster and I’m not saying that uh there’s a right or a wrong except how
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can you expect people to want to work when they’re not getting a wage that’s fair enough for them to live their lives and they’re running with beautiful wonderful people that should be here living their lives are forced to leave their home right and we’re seeing it across the island I I have friends that own restaurants and they’re losing employees because they can go to McDonald’s and work and I mean we’re talking about people to work for somebody for 10 15 years are going I go
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to McDonald’s and I’m making $4 more an hour and I’m like yeah and there’s room at McDonald’s because they are cutting staff because they don’t have business cuz no one wants to pay $28 for a Big Mac and Fries so it’s like the whole system is like great crazy well once I saw that the two for a dollar remember those dollar long gone long gone that would feed the Homeless I was like oh at least there’s a place they could go $3.99 for what was a dollar and we knew it a dollar they would make most of your
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staff or the staff that are there I would venture to stay are families they they’re not just single people that show up at Maui Memorial to go to work they are people that have families they’re part of the community they’re part of everything that goes on here and and if you I cannot imagine I know my kids who are off violin have told me what their grocery costs are and I’m going and my daughter is a coupon amazing I mean she’s so good but she’s still telling me and I’m going how could
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you be here with a family going to work and sometimes having to work overtime because of Staffing shortages that is such a disruption on your family it is and when you have things like invol AR over time right that are put in place right so if you come in and you’re the quote unquote bottom of the totem pole right you’re least seniority from the rest of the people in there and and you’re in a 24-hour department right there was what was called iot inv voluntary overtime so it doesn’t allow you to even have a
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second job right because you have to stay there and work so that’s technically your kind of your second job if you’re staying and working overtime but it doesn’t give you time for your family either um so I think that work life balance you know that that Kaiser talk so much about um you know even on their employee health website is we’re looking for that where is the work life balance right we shouldn’t be having to work so much that we’re away from our families right and then you know all
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that overtime gets taxed so heavily that I I over at mlec um I hear that from the guard staff over there that they have the involuntary overtime I worked in Corrections um in Oregon I worked in a a a juvenile unit where I was under that contract where if somebody didn’t come in I could be there I mean I was there during a flood one time for almost a week straight and I go yeah it’s involuntary it’s uh it’s an interesting place to be police fire MH Corrections all have that and and medical have that
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involuntary overtime and it’s like forced labor and I mean yeah the paychecks were nice back in the day but that doesn’t make you’re working for it you’re working for it yes you are and you’re taking away from baseball you’re taking away from going to your kids basketball and swim meets yeah they need to take care of you I agree so how uh how quickly U do you guys expect this to [Music] be uh resolved you know honestly um I think it’s it’s in their court right to
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come and meet us with the terms that you know we’ve kind of come to the table with already so after three days you say so how are you today and then do you do another three days so after 3 days we do go back to work on Thursday it is a close-ended strike it’s not an open-ended strike like um upw did prior um with the hospital where that was a couple months right um so this is a close-ended so we will return back to work on Thursday they’ll go back to negotiating table um and at that point
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they’ll determine well I think it’s really important I would not have known about this and I do read and stuff on island and and thus I because I was in having a CT that was really unusual I would not have known I mean I read the Maui news now and that was like that was pretty weighted and I’m like okay um what’s the real story and that’s when I was talking to that one gentleman I gave him my card and I said we need to know what’s going on there CU unless see her going to the
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hospital which dear God I don’t want it to I mean when I have to I have to but right yeah well I mean it’s you know it’s frustrating that aspect when you say like you don’t want to go to the hospital right the hospital is the last place you want to go um I I’m an only child to my parents um my mom was an RN for 40 years my dad was a public health director in Florida um and they live on aahu we’re originally from I’m originally from aahu and um of course they want to live where I’m at because
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I’m the only child and they want somebody to help take care of them as they get older and I’m like don’t do it like it’s it’s bad for me to say I’m like I work at the hospital but I can’t imagine having my family having to go in there for an emergency medical situation and be confident right that the appropriate Staffing is in there to take care of them you know cuz my dad is um a chemo patient he’s he’s a cancer patient and so with that medical issue I just feel that they would get better healthc
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care on aahu and even at that point you know we’re still considering whether it’s going to be a move for us after my son graduates high school so well that’s real scary I always thought well Maui Medical is the service I’ve got was excellent and always excellent now so that just shows me that you guys have worked super hard not only to keep up but to keep a smiling face thank you I mean sincerely I had so many surgeries there I don’t like to brag about it but they’ve seen the inside of me multiple
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times and so what can we do as public I mean honestly we we’re sitting here going well hey pay them more or what’s the deal what can we do um come and join us on the line we’re there till Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. are there any directors of things we can email or anyone that we should um yeah you guys can email Maui Health Administration Kaiser Permanente um I believe it’s Lyn fton is the CEO of Maui health and you know we really she’s a newcomer right so any promises there then when she came in
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or anything not really specific not really specifically but you know I think I can speak for all of us that are on the line right now it’s not that we want to be there um but we definitely are standing up for what we feel our community deserves and you know people say well you guys are fighting for nursing ratios and fair wages and how is that related to community well we are the community yes right we are say that you know people ask and so um that all that entails like Fair wages um Fair Staffing and safe Staffing
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that affects all the patients that come into the hospital so if we don’t have enough nurses on the floor right and you have six patients to one nurse that’s not considered safe Staffing no based off their Acuity right how sick they are so it’s very important that those um are set in place so that we can make sure that we have appropriate Staffing at all times in every unit right yeah you have one you have one emergency in one room that’s going to keep your focus for 30 40% of your shift and now you got seven
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people that are like oh we’ve got do you have a floater that wanders through this I mean I I’ve I’ve been through this before with Staffing Corrections and I’ve seen I was a floater one time and I had to go on a unit that wasn’t mine and I got my neck broke in a mental health facility by a little girl who has had cheeking her medication and went berserk oh broke a leg of another staff I mean I Staffing ratios are so important for your safety for your sanity yeah it’s it’s it’s a no-brainer yeah yeah and
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it’s you know like I said it’s for our community if we’re we’re going to make Maui Health the center of our Medical Care in Maui it should be everybody’s focus and worry right now absolutely absolutely yeah I would imagine you’d get Lynn fton fton fton yes yeah here and she would say the same thing Maui health is the center of our Medical Care here absolutely and our staff is the center of of our pride of being able to do this so where’s the roadblock you I go back to that one where’s the road
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yeah I what I looked up and I I had I do not know I did a little research last night wages only make up uh like seven and a half% of the whole budget for that Kaiser unit there I I can’t speak on definite numbers no I don’t know I mean I it was really vague when I looked at him I’m going okay so where’s that other 93% that I mean when you’re making anywhere from I believe it’s like 10 or 15% to 30% less L than a Kaiser employee that’s down the street at the clinic yeah that’s an issue to us absolutely
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especially when there’s you know a patient that may be more sicker that needs to be sent to the Ed MH they don’t stay at the clinic they come to the Ed um and so you know I think it’s just fair we need Fair yeah everybody should be paid direct I mean yeah right we’ve got that’s yeah well I’m so glad that you I was I I’m not glad I’m really looking forward to couple new discs put in my neck because I was I can’t turn my head if you notice I wouldn’t go this
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week no no know but I I I had the first step of getting that new CT the other day and I’m like everybody there honestly I can’t speak highly enough of the staff at Mary Memorial at the Cancer Center I was there for quite a while it’s it’s topnotch it’s family it really is and I my I’m Kaiser and I had a hip replacement surgery in August so and I was treated like I felt like royalty yeah the the quality of the Care is always good it’s it’s painful to hear how hard you have to fight to get a fair
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wage I’m Sor well you know what our our staff is amazing um I can’t applaud them more you know if I could do it every minute of every day I could because I know and see what they go through every day and they’re just amazing regardless of the circumstances but it is a point where it’s we’re going to lose those good people yeah right if we don’t do something about it and I think that that’s that’s our that’s where our fight is at right now yeah well we’re we we’re
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definitely got your back in any way we can I mean that’s just I’m so glad you were able to make it in I was like going I don’t know if anybody’s going to be in I know oh yeah no I I actually ran from the strike line I had done an interview and I had to run down to my car um and get here as fast as I could what is your role in this I mean when you did an interview are you um so I’m a union Steward um so I represent so if anybody needs Union representation within Mai health I’m a part of um a union reper
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that would go with them if they needed representation um but it kind of been helping in the back end um you know with Media stuff and and getting videos and shots of things and so kind of just helping out wherever I can we know your last name is that important um Castro was my last name okay yeah one of my adopted kids two of my adopted kids have that last name okay pH Stephanie yes okay you guys are some of you are going to see Stephanie K there you go um you know I uh sincerely hope that what we do here
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um and wherever the media that you’re seeing will come to a quick resolve for this problem right and then may all the love that you feel be sent Upstream to the national elections yes because in one day uh we we are going to have something you guys as a union do you have any feelings or people talk about that stuff um they do I kind of just I I don’t like to speak on it because everybody has their own opinions and your union you cuz I think that no matter what party one would belong to I think just
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get out and vote I everyone would be on your side I mean I’m saying that sincerely that you help all of our community and you should be applauded and surely paid at least a commensurate wage if not more if not more I mean you guys are in the your guys are in the mud over there I mean all the zili everything that Sur surrounds mie medical all the the other clinics and stuff they’re not Frontline you know you guys that the hospital staff are Frontline they’re getting they’re getting the MBA they’re
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getting all these things that are coming in directly and I mean that’s to me I would think that would always be a higher paying position in my mind just if I you know I would think if I were to be in that field okay I and I have friends that are doctors that said yeah I did the emergency room for about eight years I burned out and then I said no I need to go now they’re working clinics well most of them are retired now but they’re like yeah I went and did Clinic after that because you can’t keep up on the front
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lines unless you have a magic magic touch I think is we can all have magic I just don’t think that it would take care of all of our issues um you know as much as we want it to um but you know I I really thank you guys for for covering this story and just getting the word out and supporting us I I I’m so sad that I didn’t hear of it sooner I mean to be laying there inverted on a table with a drip into my spine really this is going on I didn’t know that was going on how did I not know about this I thought Kaiser fixed
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everything yeah and I mean you know we it’s like I said we we all thought and hoped right that it would come to a point where we didn’t have to go on strike it’s the last thing we want a lot you know our nurses and our staff we want to be inside we want to be taking care of our patients that we see you know I see patients on a you know weekly basis sometimes at the Outpatient Clinic um but especially the hospital staff right I mean I’m sure it was hard for them this morning to walk out um but
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they were doing it for the greater good knowing that you know our our management says they have appropriate staff coming on board to take care of things while we’re out and so we’re out there fighting the good fight on the line and just having so much the community drive by this morning and I don’t think you could hear any of the interviews because it was so loud but um it was great and so we appreciate your guys support as well getting the word out okay well thank you so much for coming in
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Stephanie I I I just I can’t say enough that you guys need to be treated equally and fairly I mean and and and this this is on a broader thing I see that teachers nurses people that work directly one-on-one with human beings other human beings that’s an emotional job that’s not just a paycheck and it seems like teachers nurses all of that whole bundle of oneon-one people seem to be falling behind across the boards and we really need to support you any way we can for that and I’m so
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glad you made it and I’m so glad I found out about this thank you for joining us very much thank you you’re welcome to either sit here or go I’m going to play a song for all of you guys and it’s called peace in our hearts you’ve heard it before [Music] now the world small we see it all right here [Music] on hard ites for us to see of all the world in a with an Anar and doubt [Music] and way is what we need forace in our world forace in our country for peace on our [Music] [Music]
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heart the weace building bigger weapon’s closer but in the [Music] [Music] and we know what must forace in our world [Music] for peace in our [Music] country for peace our our it starts with in our [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] always know forace in our world for peace in our country forace on our [Music] street our itace [Music] wow peace in our hearts by Louise Lambert I love that song I think we all need peace in our hearts especially today tomorrow all the time but right now is quite a time yeah I you know um
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coming into that Thanksgiving mode where we be thankful for many things well I’m thankful that tomorrow is the election because I’m this waiting until this election and then to see what happens afterwards has been very confusing each Camp of media and the ballot measures we had here in on island I on our state I mean I read those researched them and everything and I was like if you read it you thought it one way and then if you actually researched it’s like yes me no no means yes you know
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it’s we need to get things simpler we really do we just need it to be okay this is what will happen not well no the converse of that the way they write things it’s it’s a I get it I understand it um but you have an opinion can’t we just can’t we all just get along well you know all these amendments are to make the system better it’s like putting a patch on the pool that’s leaking exactly yeah you know I know but everybody needs to come you know if you had all your friends and you’re going to build a
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house and all your friends had a brick and they all had to come to your house you’re all going to come to where you’re going to build your house and everyone had a brick and we’re going to build a house and some of your friends didn’t show up then your house would have holes in it all over the place so everybody needs to come to the table and vote and sadly I think we need to make things simpler for our ballot measures and not confuse them and trick or mislead folks I think they do it in know I I know that
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legal has part of the way those are written and I understand that but they need a caveat on those that just says this is what we’re trying to achieve this is the wording we need to achieve it and just break it down like that it would help folks well it would be clear if in my mind these are the pros these are the cons absolutely they don’t put that out there for us to be able to digest it there’s not enough information well that I saw the voters pamphlet I read that um it wasn’t as e they used to
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mail the voter’s pamphlets out I and uh I actually saw one on on when I went to vote and I I sat out in the car and I read it and I was like okay that’s kind of what I got online but not every body is looking at their phone or a computer a lot of the folks that are people who vote who are older don’t want to stare at their phone and try to make out ballot measures they want something in their hand they want the clipping the coupons from the Safeway ad they want to have a piece of paper in their hand and
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they want to read that well and that just what you said about the piece of paper and then there are these independent political action committees that have money that flood your I me my mailbox I’ve gotten four or five this week at least from Tom Cook yeah the first was plenty then I already knew he was yeah and then four or five more and I’m like wait all these candidates that independent from them I don’t even specifically say it’s them it’s not no people with their special interests
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special interest that put out what they think and if you see it you may not know I’ve heard that name yeah I mean when I was running for office I had I had the beef industry put out like 400,000 flyers I had the different I had the Federation for the Jew the Jewish community that was totally against any gun control because they believe everyone should own a gun I had all these different agencies who I believe strongly in their causes who support reported me and put in tens of thousands of dollars in Flyers because
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before the internet was as prevalent as today that was mailings direct mailings and like you say and now those that aren’t plugged into the digital Computer World there are in the dark in the dark absolutely Jason you know it’s like I was surprised I remember seeing our place here littered with signs it said like forever before the elections yeah all you so now hardly any signs no I I’ve seen two places and I think those are party headquarters or something I don’t know and and I don’t really know
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what’s going on it’s all it’s changed but we left the the older nontechnical part of our entire Community AR kapuna in the dark in the dark we’re not giving them a voters pamphlet we’re sending them a ballot but we’re not sending them any supporting information um because those are coming from independent sources that have their own agendas yeah and and honestly the voter’s pamphlet can be very um in the past when they did put out a voters pamphlet there were concerns how people
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were putting their candidate statements and how you know and it used to say in the voter’s pamphlet this is not that long ago here’s uh here’s a statement from this company who thinks this would behoove them here’s a statement from the ACLU who thinks this statement is with falling in lines with what the ACLU wants to do and and we had two bellot meas that one ballot measure on there I was really surprised we didn’t have an ACLU comment on that or a mailing so we are leaving um the older generation in
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the dark because honestly they get something in the mail and I know this when my mom got older she gets stuff in the mail like a fake bills I mean it’s just it’s overwhelming oh we’re already at our time Jason oh does that say one two minutes left yeah you guys talk too much I know we just ramble Scott I know that next week we will have chosen a new president new counil yeah right through House and Senate all kinds of stuff at all kinds of levels the one thing we know love is in the air yeah I
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know love here no matter who becomes president we’re going to all love and take care of each other right yes we are no matter where we are peace in our hearts it all starts with peace in our hearts exactly I want to thank everyone that contributes to this show thanks Stephanie she was amazing see now I look there and it says 244 mine says 159 1159 it does and the other one says 250 I got I got 12 straight up well I think it’s time to end this show what do you think the music thank you guys for joining us
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we are going to over and out this is
