We congratulate the nurses at North Shore Hospital on the successful completion of their strike. For more than six weeks they courageously put their jobs on the line in a battle for better patient care and to protect decent staffing levels.

In this age of so-called managed care in which the HMOs are more concerned with increasing their bottom line than in living up to their Hippocratic Oath, the Plainview nurses were on the front lines fighting to preserve quality health care for all of us.

In support of the striking nurses, we were gathering signatures for a community support letter that urged the hospital to "do the right and moral thing!" Put the nurses back to work and preserve the dignity of patients and your workers." We are pleased that letter is no longer needed, that the hospital finally relented and that the nurses can return to the job of caring for those in need. But we all should acknowledge our debt to them and express our deepest respect and gratitude.

Judy Pannullo

Director Coalition to Save Long Island Jobs