Laurels & lances: Ladies, lawsuit, prevention, pay
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Laurel: To grand dames. March is Women’s History Month, and it has started with recognition of some amazing centenarians.
Julia Parsons of Forest Hills was honored on her 100th birthday Tuesday with a parade that included a Color Guard and fellow servicemembers. During World War II, Parsons was Navy codebreaker who worked on encrypted German messages; she kept her mission a secret for 50 years.
On Wednesday, it was Ruth N. Shuster of Irwin in the spotlight. At 100 years old, Shuster still works at the McDonald’s Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, where she has been punching the clock for 27 years. “She’d rather be working than sitting at home,” said her son, Jack.
These are the kind of remarkable stories that make up the lives of some of our longest-lived ladies. They are worth sharing and worth hearing.
Lance: To a bad connection. Vandergrift residents who want to check in on any of the information they might normally find on the borough’s website are out of luck right now.
The site shuttered more than a week ago. Visitors looking for agendas of upcoming meetings or minutes of previous ones, job postings or forms were instead met with big block letters that said, “This site is no longer being updated or maintained. If you have any questions or suggestions, please call the Vandergrift Borough.”
Council President Kathleen Chvala said at a recent meeting that the issue couldn’t be discussed due to an ongoing lawsuit. Her daughter, Jackie Chvala Vigna, maintained the site but recently resigned.
Council may not be able to discuss the problem, but the best way to avoid questions is to solve the issue. The people need to be able to access information, and that cannot wait until a lawsuit is resolved.
Laurel: To disappearing flu. If there is any positive to come out of the pandemic, it might be that one other illness was all but quashed in 2020.
Influenza is prevented by many of the same measures that thwart covid-19, which meant this season hasn’t resulted in a single Allegheny County flu death, compared to 12 in the 2019-20 season.
“This isn’t even a mild flu season. This is like no season,” said Dr. Richard Zimmerman, professor of family medicine and public health at the University of Pittsburgh.
When the next post-pandemic flu season rolls around, expect the numbers to tick up as unmasked social life returns. Let’s at least hope that handwashing habits remain.
Lance: To lost wages. A Pittsburgh home health care agency has settled with the U.S. Department of Labor over a case of missing money.
Christian Home Healthcare has agreed to pay $1.6 million in back wages plus damages. The employees — 546 home health aides — were shorted $812,675. That’s an average of $1,488 apiece.
Home health aides are among the lowest-paid workers in the health care industry. Jobs website Glassdoor puts the average starting salary of the position in the Pittsburgh area at $18,000 a year, making that lost pay equal about a month’s wages.
Home health workers — and the families who depend on reliable companies and fairly compensated employees — deserve better.