Letter to the Editor & Editor’s Reply
The Voice of Backus Hospital
James Watson, MD
Reply by Dennis Slater, MD
Dear Dr. Slater,
Thank you for editing the first edition of The Open
Journal. I noticed that all the articles, save one by
a pharmacist, were written by physicians and none
were written by nurses. I also noticed that the second
edition will have an article written by a pharmacist
but none by a nurse. The William W. Backus Hospital
has a long tradition of excellence in nursing and had,
at one time, a very successful nursing school that was
established in 1983. Most of its graduates stayed on
at Backus Hospital. In the excellent article written by
Dr. Jan Akus on the historical perspective of Backus,
there was mention of “nursing training home” but
not a nursing school. Many hospitals, Windham
and Backus included, had housing for nurses. I am
uncertain if Dr. Akus was referring to residential
housing for nurses or to nursing home, or both when
he referred to “nurse training home”.
I was disappointed that none of the articles
were written by a nurse about nursing
at Backus.
I believe, especially in the inaugural section of The
Open Journal, that there should have been an
article written by a nurse. The primary objective of
The Open Journal is to display the voice of the
Backus Hospital medical staff, nursing staff, and allied
professionals. In the future I believe it is important to
give equal billing to nurses and members of the allied
health profession. g
–Dr. James Watson
O PEN J O UR NAL • W I NT E R 2 0 18
Dear Dr. Watson,
I wholeheartedly agree with you. The nursing staff
of The William W. Backus Hospital are not just an
integral part of healthcare here; they are the very
foundation of the hospital. I canvassed repeatedly
on all the wards for any nurse to write an article
about any subject of interest. I specifically asked the
nursing leadership (more accurately implored and
begged) to submit articles about the nursing union,
staffing problems, service line issues, unrecognized
accomplishments, clinical conundrums and
challenges, etc. Several nurses offered tepid interest,
one nurse claims to be writing a manuscript, and one
nurse leader informed me that she would first seek
permission from the administration.
Unfortunately, not a single manuscript
was submitted.
You rightly point out that the school of nursing
at Backus Hospital was completely overlooked in the
excellent article written by Dr. Jan Akus on the
history of medicine at Backus Hospital. I will make a
concerted effort to ask any of the 400 nurses on the
Backus Hospital staff to write a brief history of the
nursing school. Perhaps such a contribution will
break the ice.
Gene Flenke wrote an article on improving
healthcare through application of Lean management
philosophies, principles, and tools in the first
issue. Mr. Flenke is on the East Region Executive
Leadership Team and is H3W Lean Sensei. The MD
designation was incorrect. g
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