Male Nurse Magazine”In The Profession”

Letter to the press

Date; 2003

Dear Reporter/Editor

My name is Jerry R Lucas and I am one of the 6% of the population that have chosen to be a nurse. The reason for this letter is that you in the media have over look that not only is there a nursing shortage but, there are only about 187,000 males in a profession that has over 2,189,000. I guess the question is why? Why have you not reported the true facts about nursing? In a recent story on 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl reported about the nursing shortage and the fact that this country is recruiting nurses from other countries. The story went on to show nurses in the hospitals and what they are doing in this time of shortage. In a commit to a subject that Mrs. Stahl was interviewing she said, “If I turn on the call light she might not come at all”. The topic was again the nurse “she”. The fact is that the picture used for the back drop was the old nursing cap and it said female only to me. I would like to point out that at no time did this reporter show any male nurses nor did she even talk about males in the profession. This reporter did not even give any information to the viewer as to sources for information about nursing. So why write to you in the press? I would like to point out that it was the press in the late 70’s to early 80’s that was the driving force to change the number of males to females in Medical Schools. In fact you took up the facts and found what the root cause was and helped to make an effective change. In the 60’s the press took the issue of Civil Rights and how it was unfair to treat one race different because of the color of their skin. So where are you now? I have had many stories done about me and my web site www.malenursemagazine.com. The first stories were done on my experience at “Ground Zero”. The web site and magazine is about the subject of males in the profession and some of the support for them. We have done surveys both on the net and through direct mailing. The results from those surveys are on the web site. I feel if you look over the information you will get a feel for our battle. In the following articles we have been named as a source, Nursing Times Magazine, “Day in the life” May 21, 2002, Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Welcome mat is out for nurses” Maria Mallory White, October 20, 2002, Orlando Sentinel, “Untapped source for nursing: men” Greg Groeller, December 8, 2002, and Contra Costa Times, “short on help, medical industry seeks men to fill nursing ranks”, Randy Myers, January 13, 2003. These articles have helped to point out that there is an unbalance in the profession. In fact in a report by CBS it was pointed out that males are leaving the profession after 4 years that is a clear 4:1 over females. So why is that? Is there something within nursing that males can not stand or is it because of something deeper? Is it because males are not welcomed into nursing? Maybe it is because of the schools and the fact that male are treated different? Or is just as simple as the fact that males are not recruited into the profession? If you want real answer to these question look over the surveys and you be the judge. I hope that you will take the time to look over the information and I hope that you will help get the word out. Please look over the whole web site and the guest book you will find it very interesting. I would like to thank you for your time and hope to hear from you soon.

Jerry R Lucas RN Male Nurse Magazine www.malenursemagazine.com 10510 south state hwy 3 Deputy, IN 47230 [email protected] 812-352-1293