Hello Again,
It's a wonderful flu season for all, so I'm hoping that all of you have been able to avoid the flu bug and stay healthy over this period of time we call spring.
In Poland, the weather's been quite warmer than what it has been in Wisconsin, usually averaging mid 50s to low 60s throughout the last few weeks leading up to spring, and now in the first full week spring. Although we can only hope to be seeing weather like this coming anytime soon, there's only 7 weeks of school left so let's make the best of it.
Like I had mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, the great Polish ski-jumper Adam Malysz had planned to retire at the end of this ski-jumping season which has concluded this season. All of Poland, including major politicians, heads of the country, actors, and other popular stars have one last event planned for the "White Eagle." This weekend there will be one last competition that does not count for points, but only to honor Malysz in his hometown Zakopane. In fact, this event is so huge that even some of the biggest VIP's have no chance of getting in. The event will have all of the world's best ski-jumpers and although they are not required to be there, they have all wanted to say good-bye to Malysz. Tomorrow, everything in Poland will pretty much stop functioning, stores will be closed in the morning, bars will be filled, only to have one last goodbye. Malysz has always wanted to end his career while still jumping well and he is certainly doing so by retiring this season after he took third place in this season's championship. Although there will not be a *coughcough* Brett Favre like comeback, Malysz has said that he wants to remain within the sport whether as a coach or an instructor to younger kids and eventually even the national team's jumpers.
On to more "political" things...
The nurses in Polish hospitals have decided to protest in their own way. The nurses are protesting over the new change brought in from the Polish government that allows hospitals to hire nurses on contract. Currently, nurses are allowed to meet with patients outside of the hospitals and receive compensation from those patients privately without having to disclose anything to the hospitals. Under this new law, the nurses would have to register every patient that they see outside of the hospital and be compensated for this through the hospital, and not directly from the patients. For three days, and three nights the nurses camped out on the floor of the Polish Parliament. After refusing to eat anything, they have finally given up and presented their new proposals to the First Lady. Nothing has been released of what the nurses demand exactly, but there is some mention that right now they demand a meeting with the President. The reason the nurses have given for ending the protests is because they "don't want to risk their health for the parliament." I'll be sure to include more as it gets released, perhaps this is something that is a possible topic for my comparison paper.
Have a great weekend, check in next week!
That is very interesting that the government is deciding to make Nurses register their patients. They must have been making too much money for themselves and not enough for the hospitals. With the price of health care I am not surprised to see the hospitals wanting a share of the revenue.
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