May 6, 2016
The below press release is republished here from the event organizers.
Washington – On May 12, 2016 a rally event organized by grassroots nursing organizations
will be held in Washington to raise awareness for proposed safe staffing legislation.
The event will be held by Nurses for National Patient Ratios; A Voice For Nurses
Now; and Show Me Your Stethoscope (SMYS), a health care advocacy group based in St.
Louis. It is supported by Illinois Nurses Association and HireNurses.com, of Boston.
The rally is to support S. 864 (National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy
Act) and H.R. 1602 (Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act).
The proposed bills would establish federally mandated requirements for nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios in acute care hospitals. This would regulate the maximum number of
patients nurses would be allowed to care for during a given shift. Nursing assignments
would not be allowed to exceed the proposed ratio.
Current speakers scheduled to appear at the event include Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Illinois 9th District, who introduced H.R. 1602; and sponsor of H.R 1602 Congresswoman
Joyce Beatty Ohio 3rd Congressional District; Andrew Lopez, RN, CEO of NurseFriendly;
author Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH, executive director of The Truth About Nursing;
and Janie Garner, RN, founder and executive director of SMYS, Kelsey Rowell, RN, founder
of YourHeatIsMine, and Caroline Porter Thomas, RN, founder of EmpoweRN inc. and author.
The event will take place at the corner of First St. NE and Constitution Ave, permit
area 9 between 8am-4pm. Suggested attire for attendees includes scrubs, a stethoscope,
and an event-centered t-shirt. T-shirts will be available through Bonfire.com.
Individual state rallies promoting staffing ratios will also be held at their respective
state capitols on the same day.
Health care workers of all practice levels, students in professional health care
programs, faculty, and interested members of the public are invited to attend. For
more information, please contact Pam Stogner-Barcomb at pamelajs@email.sc.edu or https://www.facebook.com/groups/1528010070852117/ for more details.