FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Amber Smigiel
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
amber.smigiel@mnnurses.org
February 10, 2021 (St. Paul) – Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary C. Turner has been selected to serve on the national Biden-Harris COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. Turner is the only Registered Nurse to serve on this advisory board to advise the White House on how to ensure all Americans have access to COVID-19 resources. She was personally selected by President Joe Biden.
“I’m both honored and humbled to serve the country,” Turner said. “The voices of the nation’s registered nurses needs to be part of the conversation on how we end the effects of this vicious virus.”
Turner said she was contacted by Dr. B. Cameron Webb, Biden’s Senior Policy Advisor for COVID-19 Equity. Turner was part of a press conference round table the president held in November, and, since then, she has also had discussions with Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, who will chair the task force. Nunez-Smith said she was moved by Turner’s testimony that day as was President-elect Biden, at the time.
“I’ve seen how this pandemic has disproportionally hurt people in our community,” Turner said. “At my hospital, we have a diverse patient population, and, as nurses, we can see what the data is telling us. More patients in our communities of color. More effects of the virus. We have to end this by fairly distributing our resources to everyone.”
Turner continues to work as an Intensive Care Unit nurse in the COVID-19 unit at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. She was re-elected president of MNA in November.
“We are thrilled that MNA/NNU President Mary C. Turner will be an incredible voice of patient advocacy on this task force. It is a relief and an honor to know that the Biden administration will be listening closely to working, direct-care nurses in their Covid-19 response,” said NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN.
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