STRIKE POSTPONED: Nurses at Flushing-based long-term care provider CenterLight Healthcare postponed a strike after bargaining with management through the weekend over their health benefits. The nurses authorized a strike on Thursday after claiming CenterLight unlawfully cancelled the health insurance of 70 home health workers in January after contract negotiations faltered. Nurses will vote on a new proposed deal Monday that would improve union benefits and pay, according to the New York State Nurses Association. If the plan is rejected the nurses will notify CenterLight of their plans to strike.
FLUORIDE DEFENSE: State Health Commissioner James McDonald defended the benefits of fluoride in New York’s drinking water after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said last week that he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending the treatment. In a statement released Monday that didn’t directly mention the secretary’s comments, MacDonald noted that adding fluoride to water where it is not already naturally occurring helps fight tooth decay, the most chronic condition in children and a factor in other health conditions. Because it is universally used, drinking water, when fluoridated, reduces health disparities, he added. But only 13 million residents out of a total population of close to 20 million have access to water with added or naturally-occuring fluoride, he said.
