This Nurses Week, nurses across our union, across Pennsylvania, and across the country are standing in solidarity to fiercely, and unapologetically advocate for safe staffing and a voice in the decisions about our patients and profession.
And we won’t stop.
This Saturday, May 14th, join us for a Memorial to Those Lost to Unsafe Staffing & Kathy Rapp’s Inaction in PA House Health Committee Chair Kathy Rapp’s hometown of Warren. Click here to learn more about this event and spread the word.
Last Saturday, nurses and hospital workers joined together in the Pittsburgh Hospital Workers March to demand immediate action to protect and support the frontline by addressing short staffing, low wages, and unsafe working conditions and respecting workers’ right to form a union.
The same day, in Wilkes-Barre, nurses from Geisinger Wyoming Medical Center held a Community Health Fair & Family Fun Day to spread info about the many public health services available to the Wilkes-Barre community and discussed the Patient Safety Act for safe staffing standards in PA’s hospitals with attendees.
Meanwhile, nurses everywhere were astounded to see UPMC has started saying the quiet part out loud, with a newsletter from a manager at UPMC Altoona admitting their approach to staffing is unsafe and threatening those who speak out.
In response, nurses in Altoona on Tuesday held a press conference calling on legislators to do whatever it takes to move the Patient Safety Act forward and put nurses in a position to provide quality care to their patients.
In Washington DC, I joined nurses from across Pennsylvania and across the country at the National Nurses March to demand safe staffing laws, oppose caps on nurse wages, and action to end violence against healthcare workers.
And tomorrow in State College, my coworkers and I are holding a Job Fair & Luncheon for Nurses & Hospital Workers Week that we’ll also be using as an opportunity to also discuss the Patient Safety Act with attendees.
There’s so many ways nurses across our union are building power to win the changes we and our patients deserve this Nurses Week, and every week. Thank you for the work you do each day you go to work, and thank you for the work you do each time you advocate for your patients, your coworkers, safe staffing, better working conditions, and yourself.
I hope you’ll join us for the Memorial to Those Lost to Unsafe Staffing & Kathy Rapp’s Inaction on Saturday if you can. I just got back home to State College from DC, but I’ll be driving over from State College.
If you can’t make it, you can still add your name to the message for Kathy Rapp on Saturday.
As we continue to rise up in solidarity, we will achieve our goals to see patient care delivery be prioritized and held to the highest standard, a standard that was built by the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.
I will leave you with two quotes to wrap this Nurses Week:
“I attribute my success to this, I never gave nor took any excuse”
-Florence Nightingale
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
-Angela Davis
In Solidarity,
Denelle Korin RN, Nurse Member Coordinator, Nurse Alliance of SEIU PA