The Michigan Daily-Friday,'
Nursing
not a job
for women
only
By JULIE BARTH
Mike Meade is a bearded, rugged-
looking man in his mid-twenties. Confi-
dent and outgoing, he wears blue jeans,
a white T-shirt, and heavy construction
boots. But, he does not drive a semi-
truck; he is not a construction worker.
Meade is a nurse at University
Hospital.
The reasons Meade gives for entering
the field of nursing are common to
many male nurses. First of all, he cites
job mobility. "You can always get a job
anywhere in the country," he says. He
was also impressed by the unlimited
number of hours that nurses are able to
work.
ACCORDING TO Meade, the field of
nursing is varied, offering a wide
variety of career choices. Many male
nurses, such as University nurse Mark
Predum, aspire toward specialization
in anesthesia, which offers higher pay,
more regular hours, and exposure to
the more scientific aspects of the
profession. These attractions usually
lure more male nurses who, according
to University nurse Mike Haas, often
may be the primary breadwinners in
the family, while many female nurses
are supplementing the household in-
come.
The second major motivation for
male nurses is their own personal
philosophy. Much the same as their
female counterparts, male nurses say
they gain a tremendous amount of
satisfaction working with people and
helping them. "I provide a necessary
* service for other individuals and get
feedback from them," according to
Meade. The nurses say their desire to
help people contrasts sharply with the
often self-serving ends of the business
world. Meade commented, "I wouldn't
feel} right about supporting multi-
national imperialism."
LICENSED PRACTICAL nurse Mike
Welch entered the field of nursing after
spending time in the world of business
pn a smaller scale. After working for 10
years in retail sales, he quit his job and
worked for a time as a custodian at
University Hospital. After seeing the
work of nurses there, Welch decided to
give nursing a try. After four years as
an LPN, he says he enjoys dealing with
September 11, 1981-Page 9-B
New downtown building planned
By ANNETTE STARON
Since city zoning approval was gran-
ted last December, all that has stood in
the way of construction of a new, eight-
story retail- and office building down-
town has been high interest rates.
Years ago, when rates were lower,
Bill Kotila and some friends bought the
property where Sun Bakery now stands
on the coner of Fifth and Liberty
Streets. Now, on the brink of
realization, their plans to construct a
modern, brick-and-glass office building
...-.
are blocked only by high interest rates
and the lack of a financial backer.
"WE BOUGHT the land about ten
years ago as an investment," said
Kotila from his office in Wilmette,
Illinois. He said they bought it "with the
thought that one day we'd build
something there."
About a year ago, preliminary work
began on designing a building for the
site which is on the principal street
linking the State and Main business
districts.
The building, designed by a local ar-
chitectural firm, Hobbs and Black, will
contain retail shops and an open plaza
on the street level for shoppers to walk
through. Chuck Mancherian, Assistant
Director of the Ann Arbor City Plan-
ning Department, described it as. "a
covered plaza with benches."
THE REST OF the building will
terrace back with small porch-like
areas on each level.
This story was reprinted from the
Daily's summer edition.
-------------------------
.0
Doily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM
PAUL ALEXANDER, a registered nurse at University Hospital, prepares to
suction fluid from a patient in the Intensive Care Unit. Male nurses at the
University say they opted for their career because they enjoy working with
people and helping them.
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people on a positive basis (rather than
a profit-seeking basis, which he sees as
negative.) "The rewards are im..
mediate," he says.
Most male nurses say they enjoy
their careers, even though "nursing
school paints a rosy picture" of a
profession that is often underpaid and
understaffed, according to Predum.
"Sometimes it can be discouraging,
says Mike Haas. "We take care of
human beings, but we don't get paid like
the line guys who hang bumpers or guys
who empty garbage." However, most
nurses claim they are satisfied, never-
theless. "I knew the money situation
before I became a nurse," adds
Predum.
ON-THE-JOB differences for the
female versus the male nurse are vir-
tually negligible. Our job is the same,"
insists Predum. He says nursing has a
"neutered job description." However,
"I can refuse to do a job on a female,
and any patient has the right to refuse
me as a nurse, but this has only hap-
pened about twice in my career," he
says.
Meade observes, "Some of the
patients are curious, but most of them
take it really well." He encountered
perhaps his biggest challenge while on
the OB rotation in nursing school,
where highly personal post-birth
monitoring must be performed on
women. "There was a lot of anxiety on
both parts at first, but if you maintain a
calm and professional attitude, the
patients react the same as they would
with a female nurse," he reports. Haas
once encountered a 97-year-old woman
who refused to be treated by males.
What about her physician? "Well, that
was okay. After all, he was the doctor."
NURSES REPORT that a vital part
of their work is teaching patients. Ac-
cording to Meade, "We teach patients
about self care, disease medication,
and preventive measures." However,
he says he enjoys' learning from his
patients even more. One of his patients
gave him tips on how to change brake
shoes on his car. Another was the
author of one of his nursing school tex-
tbooks. A 94-year-old man taught him
the "secret for living: Moderation in
everything . . including moderation."
This story was reprinted from the
Daily's summer edition.
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Saturday, Sept.12 through Friday, Sept.18
Profs predict surge in economy
ByJOHN ADAM
The nation's economy will recover
from its current recession and enter a
period of rapid growth by the end of the
year, a team of University economists
predicted.
The growth period is expected to be
accompanied by slowing inflation,
sharp improvement in unemployment
rates, and record federal budget
deficits much greater than those en-
visioned in the Reagan ad-
ministration's budget plans.
THE FORECAST is based on the
econometric model constructed by the
University Research Seminar in Quan-
titative Economics, directed by
economics and statistics Prof. Saul
Hymans. University President Harold
Shapiro, and Economists Joan Crary, a
research scientist, and Prof. E. Philip
Howrey aided Hymans in this update of
the Economic Outlook issued last
November.
Basically, two things have changed
since the November report, Hymans
explained. The four researchers now
know the dimensions of the gover-
nment's fiscal program since Reagan's
tax and budget proposals were recently
passed by Congress. And the Federal
Reserve has held to a stricter monetary
policy than the team of researchers
orignially forecast.
THIS TIGHT monetary policy with its
*high interest rates is the cause of the
current small recession, Hymans said.
"But the recession will be minor and
over at the end of the year."
The short run economic outlook as
outlined in the forecast, appears rather
bright.
INFLATION-In the absence of adver-
se supply shocks in areas such as food
prices, crude oil prices, and spot shor-
tages of raw industrial materials, the
rate of inflation will continue to edge
downward. During the first half of next
year the annual inflation rate is
forecast to be 7.1 percent, dropping fur-
ther to 6.8 percent in the second half of
the year.
UNEMPLOYMENT-The unem-
ployment rate is predicted to rise
during the early months of 1982, and
then will stabilize at a peak level of 8.4
percent for several months. During the
second half of 1982 the unemployment
rate will decline to below 8 percent and
by the third quarter of 1983, the jobless
rate will be below 7 percent and
heading downward still.
ECONOMIC GROWTH-After the
decline of real GNP (Gross National
Product) continues in the third quarter
of this year, the trend will start to be
reversed in the fourth. By mid-1982 the
economic expansion will have spread to
all major sectors of the economy.
The overall rate of economic growth
will double between the first and second
halves of 1982 and average nearly 5
percent annual rate from early 1982 to-
mid 1982. This strong growth is forecast
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to continue through the first half of 1983
and to accelerate even further after
the third stage of the personal tax cut
becomes effective in mid-1983.
FEDERAL DEFICIT-The ad-
ministration's tax cut, though helping
to accelerate economic recovery, will
produce enormous increases in the
federal deficit. In their report, the four
economists said "there is simply no
way for the tax cut to reduce the fiscal
'82 and '83 deficits.
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