MEDIA ADVISORY
Nurses calling for legislation to retain and staff nurses to protect patient care, now under threat by corporate health executives
(Duluth) – May 8, 2023 – At 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson will join Twin Ports nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) to present a proclamation for “Nurses Week” in the City of Duluth. The mayor’s proclamation recognizes that “professional nurses are indispensable to the safety and quality of care of hospitalized patients” and “retention of our Registered Nurses and continued support for our nursing students are essential to meet the increasingly complex primary and preventive health care needs of Duluth residents.”
Throughout the week, Minnesota landmarks will be lit red, including Enger Tower in Duluth on May 12, the final day of Nurses Week.
This year, MNA nurses chose the theme “Keeping Nurses at the Bedside” for Nurses Week 2023. The theme highlights efforts to address the challenges of retention and staffing for nurses in our hospitals, including legislation under consideration at the Minnesota Legislature to protect the nursing profession and patient care at the bedside. That legislation is currently under threat by corporate healthcare executives who have resorted to “blackmail tactics” in an attempt to strip key provisions that would protect quality patient care and bring nurses back to the bedside across the state. Twin Ports nurses will comment on these attempts to blackmail the Minnesota legislature. They will also speak to staffing changes happening in our community at the same time that health care executives are lobbying to stop the provisions that would require them to base staffing decisions on patient needs, not their bottom lines.
National Nurses Week has been observed since the 1990s from May 6, marked decades earlier as a day of recognition for nurses, until May 12, the birthdate of Florence Nightingale.
Members of the press are invited to attend.
- WHEN: Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 12:30 p.m.
- WHERE: Wellstone Hall, Lower Level of Duluth Labor Temple, 2002 London Rd, Duluth, MN 55812 (enter through door on South Street)
- WHO: Mayor Emily Larson, Twin Ports Nurses
- WHAT: Presents proclamation for “Nurses Week” in Duluth
- WHY: To keep nurses at the bedside and provide excellent care to all patients in Minnesota
