National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_Oct Alt 11/25/09 6:46 PM Page 8 WRAP-UP REPORT Florida florida rns have been busy laying the foundation for introduction next spring of the Florida Hospital Patient Protection Act, a state bill guaranteeing safe RN-to-patient ratios and RN rights as patient advocates. On Oct. 15, Florida RNs from the National Nurses Organizing Committee and the Service Employees International Union met with Rep. Oscar Braynon, who said he was proud to sponsor this legislation. On Oct. 19 in Orlando, 24 nurse leaders attended their first legislative public hearing on the need for ratios and the Florida Hospital Patient Protection Act. At the hearing, nurses testified about the critical and ur gent need for ratios in Florida. They presented data collected b y nurses in 39 hospitals around the state demonstrating that current staffing situations are unsafe for patients and for nurses. The solution they advocated was to mandate ratios and provide nurses with the right to advocate for patients without fear of retaliation. This was the first of eight public hearings that NNOC nurses will attend in advance of the legislative session that opens in March 2010. NNOC nurse leaders and activists will be presenting testimony throughout the state, educating elected officials and the pub lic about the Florida Hospital Patient Protection Act.  Illinois registered nurses from the Cook County Health and Hospital System (CCHHS) picketed on Oct. 28 one of the system's to wn hall meetings on community healthcar e in protest of what they see as "cruel and inhumane" decisions to slash healthcare services available to area residents.  RNs object to plans to close two of the system's thr ee Cook County RNs hospitals, w eakenprotest frontline ing the public health provider cuts at a safety net just as the town hall meeting. national H1N1 pandemic becomes a reality. The plan also calls for up to 200 nurses to be laid off , depriving patients of the level of care they need and deserve. Nurses demanded that CCHHS find 8 REGISTERED NURSE Cleveland-area NNOC members with AFL-CIO leaders Harriet Applegate and Meryl Johnson a solution other than closing inpatient beds and firing frontline medical workers. "The Cook County system is a precious public resource that has saved the lives of many, many area residents," said Brenda Langford, an RN in the Cook County system and a board member of CNA/NNOC. "We cannot see this treasure—and our patients' care—sacrificed needlessly." Ohio all over ohio, NNOC nurses have been in action this fall. Cleveland metropolitan committee member Michelle Mahon, RN testified at a state Legislature hearing on House Bill 205, calling for protecting safe staffing levels in hospital and outpatient surgery ORs. This bill requires that a circulating nurse be present for every procedure in both inpatient and outpatient surgical facilities, and that surgical technologists w ork under the dir ect supervision of a circulating nurse. Dayton-area nurses hear d a spirited report from delegates to the CNA/NNOC convention in September, which focused on the new RN super-union. Dayton and Cincinnati RNs are also active in Ohio's single-payer health r eform mo vement, making NN OC's r ed scrub Cypress Fairtops well recognized at rallies banks RNs in and demonstr ations. Ohio Texas celebrate NNOC nurses were also invit- formation ed to present to a northeast of their first Ohio meeting of the Single- professional Payer Action Network on Oct. practice 31 and is helping the Ohio sin- committee. gle-payer movement plan for the next phase of the struggle for real health reform. W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Texas while their campaign to negotiate the first private-sector collective bargaining agreement for RNs in Texas history is known throughout the country, registered nurses at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston are blazing another trail with the founding of their first pr ofessional pr actice committee (PPC) in October. "We decided that we did not need to wait for contract negotiations to be complete to have a strong advocacy committee for our patients," said Raul Sotelo, an ICU RN and bargaining team member at Cypress Fairbanks. The PPC is a nurse-led, nurse-run committee that meets monthly. Unlike other hospital "committees," the PPC does not include members of management and formulates independent opinions and recommendations. Cy-Fair nurses have already negotiated a "tentative agreement" that their PPC will be recognized by hospital management once a contract is in place, will meet on paid time, and can require a written response from hospital management on all of its r ecommendations. —staff report OCTOBER 2009

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