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Luke's and a member of the CNA/NNOC board of directors at the hearing. Though Sutter claimed it was helping families find new facilities for their relatives, family after family testified at the podium that they had received no information or assistance from Sutter beyond the initial packet they received with the June notice. "They bring all the lies. They are liars," said Ruth Cativo, daughter of 90-year-old Juan Jose Cativo, who is a St. Luke's subacute patient. "My father is still alive because we are visiting him." "I am here begging for my dad," added Marlene Cativo, another daughter. "We need to stay close. Everyday, my sister, brother, and I visit him. He waiting for us every afternoon." Hamilton said that she and her family had started calling facilities on the list Sutter provided, many of them at least 60 to 70 miles away, but have been told that they "don't really take care of patients with [her] sister's type of condition." Raquel Rivera, who is currently coordi- nating the family advocacy group, has a 53-year-old mentally disabled sister, Sandy, who has been at St. Luke's for seven years. Her family is terrified by the prospect of being separated from Sandy. Sandy has the mental capacity of a toddler, and is prone to depression, episodes of anger, and picking at herself until she bleeds if she is stressed or encounters a situation she doesn't understand. "My parents live in the city, and before this, Sandy had always lived at home," said Rivera, who noted that being close means family members can visit often and take care of the small things that contribute to Sandy's quality of life, such as launder and bring back Sandy's favorite cozy blanket. "This is now her second home. Moving her would be detrimental to our family." Sutter's closure plans are destroying the strong community, professional, and person- al networks and relationships built up over the years between St. Luke's staff, the patients, and their families. "Some of my patients have been there even longer than I have," said Erick Barreras, an RN who has worked on the subacute unit for 17 years. "We are like family. Keeping the subacute unit would mean our patients can be with their families longer and have better quality of life until their final journey." —Lucia Hwang MINNESOTA M innesota nurses showed they care about patients beyond the bedside in a big way this June by purchasing and forgiving the past-due medical debts of 1,800 families. The Minnesota Nurses Association partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based nonprofit, to locate and acquire the accounts. Just like a collection agency, RIP Medical Debt is able to acquire the debt at a fraction of the value. MNA paid $28,000 for the $2.6 million balance. Nurses announced the action at a June 19 news conference, the first anniversary of the strikes against Allina Health. "Nurses are happy to allow these fami- lies to be free of their debt," said Mary Turner, RN and MNA president. "They've had this medical debt hanging over their heads for two years or more. It's cost them their credit, pushed them toward bank- ruptcy, and hurt them in so many ways." The past-due accounts had long been written off by the hospital or original provider. These accounts were to be sold to an agency that would collect on them to profit from the debt. Many of the accounts came from patients who needed to seek multiple, expensive treatments from their provider. "I have a job and medical insurance, but I have an annual $5,000 out-of-pocket max," said Debra Puchala, a Minnesota patient who owes more than $5,000 to various medical providers. Puchala had a hip replacement in 2015 and a shoulder surgery in 2016. She said she has three medical bills that have been turned over to the Minnesota Department of Revenue to garnish her wages and another medical bill that has been sent to a collection agency. "I still have $5,500 remaining in balances but can only make payments on $2,900," Puchala said. "This shows just how broken the healthcare system really is," Turner said. "A patient has to come in repeatedly and racks up a co-pay each time. If they have insurance with a $5,000 or $10,000 out- of-pocket max, they're racking up debt they can't possibly get away from. Too many patients have to choose between the poor house and the funeral home." Medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy. Past-due accounts to healthcare providers are cited in 62 percent of bankruptcy cases filed. Bad debt to medical providers is expected to top $200 billion by 2019. "Medical bills are now the number one reason people are contacted by debt collec- tors. Even people with health insurance face unpaid medical bills due to the very high deductibles in many insurance poli- cies," said Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson. "The Minnesota Nurses Associa- tion is generous to have relieved people from the weight of this debt. It's going to make a tangible and very real impact on the lives of many of our Minnesotans." MNA is fighting for a single-payer healthcare system and learned about RIP through a report on HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." "We had many discussions about how to repay the community for what they gave nurses during the 2016 strike," Turner said. "The John Oliver show inspired us, and we decided to see if we could do the same thing." —Barb Brady RNs ease pain of medical debt for 1,800 families Minnesota nurses buy and forgive $2.6 million in bills J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 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 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 5 L to R: MNA Presi- dent Mary Turner, RN; MNA Executive Director Rose Roach; Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson