National Nurses United

10 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 7 NEWS BRIEFS NATIONAL S ome organizations mark Interna- tional Nurses' Week with doughnuts, pizza, and magnets. National Nurses United instead uses the occasion to truly honor registered nurses by fighting to improve their working conditions, protect their practice, and advocate for their patients. On May 10, more than 100 NNU RNs from across the United States visited Capitol Hill to ask members of Congress to support expanded and improved Medicare for All, patient protection legislation, and other bills to lower prescription drug costs, make hospitals safer, and fund healthcare, free college tuition, and other social needs. "Healthcare is a human right and the way to make that right a reality for everyone in this country is through an expanded and improved Medicare for All system," said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN. "It is imperative that Congress act now." Nurses urged members of Congress to support H.R. 676, legislation introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), to expand and improve Medicare to all in order to end health disparities, effectively control costs, and assure that everyone has equal access to an excellent standard of therapeutic care. H.R. 676 currently has 108 cosponsors, which represents the majority of the House Democratic Caucus. "The solution is not making our broken healthcare system even worse, it's by achiev- ing real reform, once and for all, by improving and expanding Medicare, one of the signature reforms in U.S. history, to cover all Ameri- cans," said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. "Nurses are speaking powerfully to our elected officials of both parties to tell them what Americans need and that's a fair, just, and equitable healthcare system for all." NNU is working with Sen. Bernie Sanders on the upcoming introduction of his Medicare for All bill in the U.S. Senate. Nurs- es will also be urging senators to reject the American Health Care Act, passed in early May by the U.S. House of Representatives, which NNU has branded "cruel and unusual punishment for millions of Americans." Nurses will also be advocating for power- ful patient protection legislation introduced in May by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) that will set specific safety limits on the numbers of patients each RN can care for in hospitals throughout the United States, otherwise known to RNs as "ratios laws." "Studies have clearly shown that safe staffing saves lives," said Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of NNU. "It is a travesty that 49 out of 50 states in the U.S. impose no legal limit on how many patients can be assigned to a nurse at one time in acute care hospitals." Modeled after California's ratios law, the bills, H.R. 2392 and S. 1063, both known as the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, estab- lish minimum RN-to-patient ratios for every hospital unit at all times. These bills also provide whistle-blower protection to assure that nurses are free to speak out for enforcement of safe staffing standards. Nurses also lobbied for important legisla- tion to lower prescription drug prices, empow- er nurses at Veterans Affairs medical centers to be powerful patient advocates, and fund healthcare, education, jobs, and other vital programs through a small tax on Wall Street. NNU's mobilization in Washington, D.C. was part of a global week of action being organized by Global Nurses United, an international federation of nurses' unions in 21 countries on six continents, in honor of International Nurses' Week, which always culminates on May 12 with the celebration of Florence Nightingale's birthday as the founder of modern nursing. —Staff report NNU celebrates International Nurses' Week RNs visit Capitol Hill to lobby for Medicare for all, safe staffing, and more

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