A message from Neal Bisno, President, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania:
This year, as every year, Nurses Week provides an important opportunity to reflect on the inspiring contributions made by nurses who, day in and day out, deliver the highest quality care possible to their patients and their communities.
The more than 10,000 nurses of the Nurse Alliance of Pennsylvania and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania marked Nurses Week by lifting up the stories of some of the dedicated nurses who are advocating for our patients not just at the bedside, but in the streets, in Harrisburg, and in Washington, DC.
- Meet Tara Householder, LPN
- Meet Mariagorathy Opokwu, RN
- Meet Gary Margulis, RN
- Meet Alana Bennett, LPN
- Meet Jean Hayes, RN, BSN
- Meet Barb Delgado-Shomo, LPN
On Tuesday, nurses and other caregivers from across the Commonwealth converged on the State Capitol in Harrisburg to send a message to our legislators – safe staffing saves lives – and to demand that our lawmakers take action to ensure the safest, highest quality of care for all Pennsylvanians.
You can do your part to stand up for safe staffing by writing your legislators today and asking them to cosponsor Senate Bill 1081, the Hospital Nursing Staff Report Card Act. The law would create a public reporting system for nurse staffing in hospitals and other acute care facilities giving patients and their families the information they need to make important choices when it comes to potentially life-saving medical care. It’s the critical first step to ensuring safe nurse-to-patient ratios and support staffing in all healthcare facilities.
One of the nurses who joined us in Harrisburg was Theresa Brown, RN, a Pittsburgh resident, activist, and nationally recognized author who this week published a powerful piece in Slate.com, entitled “Lightening Nurses’ Loads.” Please read Theresa’s piece, post it, and share it widely (and buy her most recent book The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives)!
Theresa writes:
“We’re currently in the middle of National Nurses Week, meaning nurses all over the country will receive recognition in the form of pizza parties, tote bags, and travel mugs. The better way to honor us, though, would be to help ensure safe staffing. The way to do that is legislation.”
The nurses of the Nurse Alliance of Pennsylvania couldn’t agree more. As Nurses Week 2016 comes to a close, we recommit ourselves to building a robust movement of nurses, fellow healthcare workers, and patients to win the safe staffing and quality of care every Pennsylvanian deserves.
Happy Nurses Week 2016! Now let’s work together to make sure that we value patients by valuing nurses, every week of the year.
Neal Bisno
President, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania