Letters: KC readers discuss hardworking nurses, cultural heritage and reading’s value

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I agree with registered nurse Morgan Curry, who wrote this year on nursingcentral.com that seasoned nurses deserve retention bonuses to prove they are valued more than new nurses receiving sign-on bonuses. Experienced nurses feel undervalued and underappreciated when new nurses receive bonuses to come and do jobs the loyal nurses have been doing for many years.

When experienced nurses receive retention bonuses, it helps build positive relationships between staff and administrators. Employee engagement and satisfaction also increase with greater pay.

As a nurse working through the pandemic and dealing with nursing shortage, I can attest that nurses are dealing with burnout. Experienced nurses are leaving bedsides because of the stress and because they feel undervalued. They have been working tirelessly, and they hear about new nursing school graduates and nurses working for traveling nurse agencies who earn far more than core staff members who have been loyal to a company.

Onboarding new grads and traveling nurses, along with paying them bonuses, is very costly. Shifting this expense to retention bonuses for current staff nurses would minimize those costs and improve satisfaction.

- Amanda Workman, Kansas City

Culture continuity

Missouri should mandate stricter foreign-language curriculum beginning in elementary school because learning a second language preserves history and culture.

Ten years ago, I understood a limited amount about my ancestry. I knew that my great-grandmother, Nana Blando, spoke differently. At 6, I didn’t recognize the language as Sicilian. Just as I didn’t know Nana’s “basta” that I ate on weekends was the same as the pasta my friends ate.

On Sundays, one thing you could count on anytime you crossed over the threshold into Nana’s house was that you would be eating more basta than you wanted. Bowl after bowl would be refilled. I didn’t know pasta is basta and that basta really means “enough” in Italian, even if that translation got lost somewhere along the way in my family.

I know now that I am the great-granddaughter of an Italian immigrant who came through Ellis Island and the oldest granddaughter of a first-generation immigrant. I know I am not the only person with such a story, and I know I can’t be the only one fearing history may repeat itself if we let any languages die.

As Nana B would say, “Arrivederci.”

- Micaela Richards, Lee’s Summit

Reading is key

Did you know that improving literacy skills helps keep children safe? Literacy and crime prevention may seem like an unlikely pair. However, the link is clear:

▪  As many as 85% of teens in the juvenile justice system are functionally illiterate.

▪  Children who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school.

▪  People with low literacy skills are more likely to be involved in crime, either as the victim or the offender.

▪  In general, the lower the reading comprehension rate, the more violent the behavior.

Reading is essential — not just for school success, but for life. When children have trouble learning to read, it can kick off a devastating downward spiral.

Learning gaps manifest themselves in many ways. But if children can read at grade level by third grade, they are on a trajectory for future success and rarely get in trouble with the law later.

The issue is urgent, and there is a role for everyone. You can help. Become a Lead to Read KC Reading Mentor, and donate one lunch hour a week to read with a student. Go to leadtoreadkc.org/volunteer to learn more.

- Martha Weber Conradt, Leawood

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.