Replaces Ahtaridis as President
Interns' Union Elects Lewis

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A city doctor has become the national president of the Committee of Interns and Residents of the Service Employees International Union.

Photo by Cara Metz RESIDENTIAL POWER: The new executive officers of the Committee of Interns and Residents, Secretary-Treasurer Nailah Thompson (left), President Luella Toni Lewis (center) and Executive Vice President Rajani Bhat, say they are ready to take on the challenges of health care reform and reducing residents' grueling 24-hour shifts. 'I want to make sure we have a larger voice in the discussion,' said Dr. Lewis.

Dr. Luella Toni Lewis, a Geriatrics Fellow at Caritas Health Care in Jamaica, Queens, will replace Dr. Simon Ahtaridis, who stepped down in the middle of his term due to the demands of his practice. The union's executive committee also elected a new executive vice president to replace Dr. Lewis and a new secretary-treasurer.

'A Dynamic Time'

"I'm really excited about the work we're beginning to do," said Dr. Lewis. "It's such a dynamic time in terms of health-care policy, and I want to make sure we have a larger voice in the discussion."

CIR represents 12,000 residents nationwide, including 2,000 residents at nine city hospitals.

The union has made fighting budget cuts a top priority. Dr. Lewis said that although none of CIR's hospitals took hits under Governor Spitzer's revised health-care budget this spring, it was important to stay vigilant at a time when health-care reform was a central topic of discussion both statewide and in the presidential campaign.

Also of top concern to the new officers are the long hours required of residents. The legal limit is a 24-hour shift and an 80-hour week, but that can be averaged over four weeks. Some residents work 100-hour weeks as a result.

Pushes for 16-Hour Max

Dr. Lewis noted that industries such as trucking and air traffic control had much more stringent regulations. "It's bananas that your doctor could be in the 23rd hour of a shift and working on you or your mother or your daughter, and that's considered OK," she remarked. The union has put forward solutions to the staffing problems by looking at other countries where 16-hour shifts are used and are considered to be safer for both the doctor and the patient.

Dr. Rajani Surendar Bhat, CIR's former secretary-treasurer and a fourth-year Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in The Bronx, was elected by the union's executive committee to be the executive vice president. Dr. Nailah Thompson, a chief resident in Oakland, Calif., was chosen secretary-treasurer.

The executive vice president automatically becomes president in the event that the top officer steps down.

The new team will fill out the current one-year term, which runs until May, when the union's convention is held. Dr. Lewis plans to run for a full term as president at that time.