Iowa hospital workers sell buttons to help NYC colleagues

Workers at Des Moines’ Mercy hospital are peddling buttons custom-made this week for a fundraiser. Mercy spokesman Greg Lagansays the money raised will go into a fund for NYC’s St Vincent Hospital, where they’re close to “ground zero” and have been dealing with the trauma. Lagan says hospital workers always deal with people’s emergencies.The security department’s selling the badges for two dollars. Employees came up with the idea during a break when they were talking about somehow helping. The hospital has 5,500 workers, and five thousand of the buttons were made. Optimistically, if all are sold, ten thousand dollars will be dedicated to a fund to counsel workers at New York’s St Vincent hospital.He says people in healthcare know how stressful situations can be everyday, and trying to imagine what the healthcare workers are going through in NYC, their peers here want to help. The buttons have red, white and blue ribbons and the message “God bless America.”