After Lobby Day, A Call for Action
A dangerous last-minute budget proposal from the governor's office would amend the Nurse Practice Act to deregulate the practice of nursing — and open the door wider to corporate-driven healthcare institutions who want to replace skilled nurses with underpaid and untrained workers. This is a direct assault on quality care and access to care.
Yesterday, more than 1,000 nurses got on buses to Albany for our Safe Staffing Lobby Day. We quickly moved into action and expanded our lobby visits so that we could respond to this attack on patient safety and nursing practice. [caption align="left"]
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We doubled our planned lobby visits and met with more than 170 lawmakers and their staffers. We asked our lawmakers to support the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act and also asked for them to stand with us against any changes to the Nurse Practice Act. Many lawmakers share our concerns about gutting the Nurse Practice Act. (You can see the photos of this very successful event on our Facebook and Twitter pages).
Our lobby visits made a difference. But our fight is not over. Every lawmaker in the state needs to hear from frontline nurses today. If we don’t stop the proposal to gut the Nurse Practice Act this week, it could become law. That would put our patients and our entire profession at risk. We can’t let that happen.
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Call your lawmakers now to protect our patients and our practice.
Here’s some background on what's happening: The governor’s office is using the Community First Choice program — a program that NYSNA supports and which would make it possible for more disabled New Yorkers to live independently in their own homes — as a pretext to attack the Nurse Practice Act.
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[/caption]We have submitted an alternative proposal for enacting the Community First Choice that would ensure that every patient has access to the care they need at home without eroding nursing practice. Disability rights groups and 1199SEIU, the union that represents homecare workers throughout the state, have signed off on our proposal. But the Governor and the legislature have not agreed to our solution.
Our lawmakers need to hear from us — so that they will stand with us to stop the attack on the Nurse Practice Act and support Safe Staffing.
Pick up the phone and add your voice.