Health Service
water situation
still unclear amid
mixed reports
A
By LOU FINTOR
Although University Health Service
officials insisted yesterday that their
water poses no health hazards, conflic-
ting reports continue to surface over
the sequence of steps taken to insure
the water's safety.
The existence of "grossly discolored
water" in the second floor laboratory's
water supply was first reported
Tuesday morning. According to Dr.
Caesar Briefer, director of Health Ser-
vice, tests were immediately taken by
state and University labs to determine
the contamination's source.
HOWEVER, JOHN Kowalczyk, a
sanitarian in the University's Oc-
cupational Safety and Environmental
Health Office, said, "I'm not aware of
the state being contacted."
Kowalczyk also stated that the
University did not do any follow-up
testing, but sent water samples to a
private, outside lab and asked the City
of Ann Arbor to do further testing.
In an incidence of possible water con-
tamination, city, county or state health
departments should be notified, said
Dr. Theodore Williams, Sanitary Bac-
teriology and Chemistry chief at the
Michigan Public Health Department.
WILLIAMS CONFIRMED that no at-
tempt was made to contact his depar-
tment for testing. "As of today, nothing
was completed in this lab from the
University of Michigan since May 1,"
Williams said.
Instead, Health Service officials
chose to utilize Microbe One, a private
testing laboratory, for the necessary
tests.
A Microbe One spokesman said that
secondary testing is currently being
done for yeasts, mold, and fungi, and
for nuisance bacteria" such as iron
bacteria. Preliminary test results do
not indicate "pathogenic con-
tamination," she said.
ALTHOUGH THE final tests results
will not be available until Monday from
Microbe One, Health Service officials
assured employees that the water was
safe to drink the day after the
discolored water was discovered.
The contamination was first noticed
coming from a hot water tap in the
second floor lab area. In their tests,
Microbe One tested both hot and cold
water samples.
However, only cold water samples
were taken to Ann Arbor's Water
Treatment Plant, a city lab also used by
Health Service for the testing, said
Assistant Superintendent Larry San-
ford.
Sanford also said that only chlorine
levels were taken and not the more
decisive bacteriology tests, except for
the cold water tap in the second floor
lab, which yielded essentially negative,
results.
"I didn't know hot water was con-
taminated when I tested," said San-
ford. "Thursday was when I actually
found out that it was the hot water."
According to Sanford, "Dana (Dana
Mills, Health Service Administrative
Director) couldn't get anyone in the lab
who would say if it was (the) hot or cold
water."
Daily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM
THE ROLE OF' nurses is often misunderstood by the general public. Here
two RN's and a doctor are seen doing paperwork at the intensive care center
of University Hospital.
Nursingprofession
faces outdated ihmage
Japanese auto curbs not
enough for U.S. officials
From APandUPI doubts it can permanently rebound
WASHINGTON - Despite all the from its slump.
clamor for - and then celebration Fraser said it will take the ailing auto
about - Japan's decision to cut back its industry three years to convert produc-
auto shipments to the United States, tion to fully compete with small impor-
government and industry officials now ts.
seem agreed the voluntary rollback will THERE IS, FRASER said, "no im-
do little to help U.S. manufacturers or mediate prospect for an upturn in the
spur new jobs. auto industry especially because of
"The import rollback is really not recent increases in interest rates."
going to be that significant," Transpor- Breaking even used to be bad news,"
tation Secretary Drew Lewis said in a he said. "In these times breaking even
recent interview. It "is going to have is good news. What we're seeing now is
hardly any impact on the price of cars, permanent change. The U.S. had a
on the consumer's selection process, monopoly on the market but that has
and it's going to have very little impact disappeared. We will never again see
on employment," he added. the employment levels we saw in 1977,
INDUSTRY ANALYSTS, auto 1978 and 1979."
executives and several members of Fraser said almost 200,000 auto
Congress generally agreed Friday with workers remain out of work and in-
Lewis. They said the Japanese cutback dustry sales have declined the past 17
- 7.7 percent of cars exported directly consecutive months.
to the United States - would have "THERE'S BEEN A lot of verbiage
measurable effect only if overall auto about this, but I consider it pretty much
sales soar. to be a non-event," said Arvid Jouppi,
Meanwhile, United Auto Workers an auto industry specialist for John
President Douglas Fraser said yester- - Muir & Co., referring to the import
day the American auto industry has cuts.
undergone. a permanent change and.
By JULIE BARTH
With the recent nurses' strike at
University Hospital, public attention
has been drawn toward the problems of
the nursing profession. Perhaps the
greatest difficulty nurses experience is
the variety of viewpoints with regard to
their own self-image. Advancing
medical technology has caused the role
of the nurse to change rapidly.
However, many nurses feel that public
opinion and administrative attitudes
have failed to change with equal speed.
According to Brenda Horness, a
recent University Nursing School
graduate, there are generally two
misconceptions of nursing taken by the
public.
One is that nurses are not highly
educated and are merely "bedpan
dumpers." Another common idea is
that nurses are expected to be caring,
curing individuals who shouldn't expect
payment or respect for their labor.
NURSING IS far from a romantic
profession, according to many Univer-
sity nurses. At times, it is unpleasant
and demanding, they say.
Further, nurses complain of ex-
cessive paperwork which detracts from
the time they can spend actually
working with patients. Also, pay raises
for nurses have traditionally been few
and far between, they claim, noting
that nurses with 25 years experience of-
ten receive the same pay as a five-year
veteran.
Yet, in addition to dealing with many
unpleasant situations, nurses often
must make life and death decisions,
making diagnoses and giving treatment
in the absence of a doctor.
Though often idealistic when fresh
out of school, many nurses experience
disillusionment on the job and "burn
out"-one source of the rapid turnover
rate in the nursing profession. Nurses
claim hospital administrators are doing
little to improve these conditions and
thus relieve the shortage of nurses.
One of the major problems cited by
local nurses is a lack of communication
between nurses and hospital ad-
ministration. "I don't even know what
the administration thinks," says nine-
year veteran nurse Jean Campbell.
"There is a mutual lack of understan-
ding of each other's roles." Many nur-
ses are skeptical that their recent strike
did much to improve this com-
munication problem.
One nurse claims she gets no
recognition for doing a good job from
the administration, although doctors
are very complimentary. Most nursing
administrators are former nurses, she
said, and, "once they're ad-
ministrators, they don't really care
about the average nurse."
ALTHOUGH NURSES say doctors
are more respectful of nurses' exper-
tise than in the past, there are still some
exceptions.
"Some doctors still think that nurses
are not highly educated, and they -talk
down to them," according to nurse Bet-
sy Babler. Marcia Pitts, also a Univer-
sity nurse, recalls a smaller hospital
where nurses were expected to stand up
when doctors entered the room, and
had to carry their bags.
Largely, however, most nurses agree
the days of "bowing and scraping" are
See NURSES, Page 7