Washington, D.C. – Nurse members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, from around the country will descend on Capitol Hill on Friday, May 5, 2017, to meet with their legislators and demand safe nurse to patient ratio legislation aimed at protecting nurses, patients and their families.

The nurses, represented by the OPEIU Nurses Council (ONC), will also participate in the Nurses Take DC Rally for Safe Nurse to Patient Ratios, joining an anticipated 10,000 nurses from around the country who are gathering to raise public awareness of the dangers posed by unsafe nurse staffing levels in hospitals and medical clinics. ONC Vice Chair Julie Murray, RN, is among the scheduled speakers.

Two new safe staffing bills have been introduced in New York and Ohio. Democratic Senator Michael Skindell from Ohio has proposed SB 324 to the Ohio legislature. This bill mirrors the staffing ratios set in California in 2004. New York Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther has proposed A01532 titled the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. This bill also sets ratios and also addresses the issues of long term care facilities by determining staffing according to a minimum of care hours per resident per day for RNs, LPNs and CNAs. For RNs it would be figured at 0.75 divided among all shifts 24 hours a day divided amongst all shifts for seven days a week. For LPNs it is 1.3 hours and CNAs are at 2.8 hours.

Peter DeMarco and his wife, Laura Levis, hiking together last summer in Scotland. Credit Photo courtesy of Peter DeMarco
After his 34-year-old wife suffered a devastating asthma attack and later died, the Boston writer Peter DeMarco wrote the following letter to the intensive care unit staff of CHA Cambridge Hospital who cared for her and helped him cope.

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