I am writing this letter as response to the article "Hospital Gives Stork Walking Papers" (Oct. 13). In that article, Ohio Valley General Hospital President and CEO William Provenzano was quoted as saying "It's difficult for us to maintain a viable operation for a lot of reasons. It's partly financial but there's also the difficulty of ensuring that the staff maintained an adequate level of proficiency."

That comment was not only insulting to those of us who have worked on this unit under very difficult conditions brought about by administration in their attempts to "cut costs effectively" and our professional reputations, it has implied that we are not qualified to perform our jobs.

In a small community hospital, we are not afforded the same luxuries as a university hospital. In order to effectively run our unit, our staff must be proficient in all areas of obstetrics and gynecology. The physicians we work with depend on our assessment skills to determine how emergent the situation is. We all are required to hold ACLS, BLS and NNR certifications.

It really is not only a true disservice to the community as a whole to lose such a wonderful special unit as the obstetric unit at Ohio Valley General Hospital, but for Mr. Provenzano to imply that the nursing staff was not proficient just pours salt on our open wound.

Our unit offered individualized care including; free prenatal, breast feeding and sibling classes, a free candlelight dinner for two following your delivery. We had a newly built unit with private suites that could rival any luxury hotel in town. Built on a grant for the community to have this service, OVGH is supposed to be a nonprofit based facility. I can assure you that you will be hard-pressed to find that at a university hospital.

It saddens all of us that the community has had to endure such a horrific loss of a precious resource.

Nicole Renee DeBar, R.N.
Carnegie

After reviewing the Oct. 18 edition's Diversity section, I was dismayed. Corporate Pittsburgh continues to resist diversity through poor hiring and promotion practices on a regular basis.

On any given Monday, you can walk into a meeting at a Downtown corporate office and not see a person of color -- especially an African-American. Middle and executive management of our companies are not at all inclusive of minorities.

While some employers try to feign a diversity mission, we who are minorities and work in this city know differently. No matter how many so-called "diversity" symposiums we have, the evidence of effectiveness is the visibility of minorities in management.

Look around corporate Pittsburgh. Can you truly call yourself a diverse work force? It is intellectually dishonest to shout "Celebrate Diversity" out one side of your mouth while ignoring (and some feeding) the oppressive elephant hovering over this city.

To those of us who have worked here all our lives, we are not crazy. It is Pittsburgh who deceives herself with these token gestures of "diversity-speak." Very few employers want to admit that there is even a problem. Thus, diversity does not work here. Take this how you want to take it: Either there is little or no diversity here or that it just doesn't work in this town.

My advice? Minorities: Do what others have learned to do long ago. Move to another city where you are celebrated and not just tolerated.

Marjorie Tabb
Verona

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