Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/117867
NEWS BRIEFS Michigan RN Barbara Davis speaks to the media about the nurses��� campaign to expose Benishek Michigan RNs Publicly Shame Congressman for Anti-Medicare Vote MICHIGAN ichigan nurses Association nurses residing in Michigan���s Upper Peninsula are rising up in protest of Congressman Dan Benishek���s vote to end guaranteed Medicare benefits for seniors while protecting his own healthcare and giving more tax breaks to millionaires. MNA nurses have seen the benefits of Medicare for their patients and are fighting not only to keep Medicare but to expand it to everyone. With that goal in mind, the nurses on July 28 shared their concerns on a mobile billboard and handed out hundreds of fans to attendees of the annual Art on the Rocks event in Marquette to call attention to the need for Medicare. The fans featured a tombstone with ���R.I.P. Medicare, 1965-2012��� on it and included a picture of Benishek. ���I see every day that people in our communities are hurting, said Carolyn Hietamaki, RN, a nurse at Marquette General Hospital. ���They have to choose between prescriptions and food already, and M 10 N AT I O N A L N U R S E they can���t afford to pay more for healthcare. That suffering would get worse if seniors lose Medicare.��� ���As a nurse and a constituent, I have to speak out against those who would destroy Medicare, which would make seniors pay more for healthcare that can mean the difference between life and death,��� said Barb Davis, RN, who lives in Kingsford and has worked in the emergency room at Dickinson County Healthcare System for 13 years. ���If seniors lose their Medicare, we���ll see even more patients who wait until they get so sick that they have to go to the emergency room or be admitted because they couldn���t afford their medications or doctor visits. Medicare should not only continue, it should be expanded to cover everyone.��� The mobile billboard drew plenty of attention from concerned Michiganders as it left Lansing and traveled eight hours to Marquette. Many citizens came up to the driver and voiced their concern regarding the future of Medicare when the billboard as he traveled. Once the mobile billboard arrived in Marquette, nurses spoke to the media and worried citizens, citing their W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G protection for Medicare and to expand it for all. ���Every day at the hospital I see patients who are struggling to pay for their medications and just praying they won���t get sick again,��� said Charlotte Folkersma, RN, who lives in Sault Ste. Marie and works at Chippewa County War Memorial Hospital. ���People know they can count on Medicare and they want it to stay that way. Medicare is a lifesaver for tens of thousands of people all across the [Upper Peninsula] and Northern Michigan. This is a program that cannot disappear and must be opened to include all people in need of coverage.��� MNA nurses are continuing the fight for Medicare for all by calling upon Benishek, who is a physician, to hold a town hall meeting to discuss the future of Medicare. ���It���s time Benishek quits voting to protect millionaires instead of Medicare,��� said John Karebian, MNA executive director. ���Nurses understand better than anyone how much Medicare is needed today and in the future. We will continue to be vigilant in making our voices heard until all Michigan and national politicians have agreed to expand Medicare for all.��� ���Ann Kettering Sincox J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 1 2