Nurses Celebrated Throughout the World During Nurses Week (Page 50)

By Barb Brady

Barb Brady
Barb Brady MNA Communications Specialist

MNA Communications Specialist

Celebrations throughout the state, a proclamation by the governor, standing ovations in the Minnesota Legislature, and events around the world: people everywhere took a moment to recognize the wonderful nursing profession.

“Registered nurses strive to meet the different and emerging needs of Minnesotans in a wide range of settings, including large medical centers, local hospitals, outpatient clinics, psychiatric centers, nursing homes, veterans homes, addiction treatment centers, correctional facilities, medical rehab facilities, homes for the developmentally disabled, adolescent residential and secure facilities, community facilities, schools, and private offices,” according to a proclamation from Governor Mark Dayton declaring May 6-12 Minnesota Nurses Week. “The cost-effective and high-quality healthcare services provided by registered nurses continues to be an important component of Minnesota’s healthcare delivery system and more qualified registered nurses will be needed to meet the renewed emphasis on primary and preventive healthcare and the increasingly complex needs of consumers.”

Members of both houses of the Minnesota Legislature gave standing ovations and applauded nurses’ efforts as nurse legislators read the governor’s proclamation.  The Senate video is here at the 1:15:40 mark.  The Minnesota House video is at the 12:00 mark.

MNA nurses held Nurses Week events including food, prizes, drawings, and lots of solidarity to celebrate the profession in about 40 locations throughout Minnesota.

In countries around the world, Global Nurses United, the international federation of nurses’ unions, took actions to ensure that all patients have access to healthcare services and medicines, and addressed healthcare inequity and social justice concerns.

“As healthcare becomes increasingly corporate, nurses’ role in standing up for patients becomes more critical,” MNA President Mary Turner told members in an email thanking them for their dedication and caring all year long. “We are the ones at the bedside and we know what patients need. We know that the patient-nurse relationship is at the very core of our healthcare system. It’s a sacred bond that patients depend on and that nurses fight to preserve.”

 

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Nurses Week

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

Celebrations throughout the state, a proclamation by the governor, standing ovations in the Minnesota Legislature, and events around the world: people everywhere took a moment to recognize the wonderful nursing profession.

“Registered nurses strive to meet the different and emerging needs of Minnesotans in a wide range of settings, including large medical centers, local hospitals, outpatient clinics, psychiatric centers, nursing homes, veterans homes, addiction treatment centers, correctional facilities, medical rehab facilities, homes for the developmentally disabled, adolescent residential and secure facilities, community facilities, schools, and private offices,” according to a proclamation from Governor Mark Dayton declaring May 6-12 Minnesota Nurses Week.
… Read more about: Nurses Celebrated Throughout the World During Nurses Week  »

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In: Home, Patient Safety Standards, Press Releases

Bipartisan bill

 

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2249
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

 

(St. Paul) – May 11, 2017 – In conjunction with Nurses Week, legislators introduced the Quality Patient Care Act in the Minnesota Legislature.  HF 2650 and companion bill SF 2382 require hospitals to maintain a minimum number of trained nursing personnel at all times to take care of the number of patients at that facility.  The number of nurses on duty would vary by department as well as patient census.
… Read more about: Minnesota Legislators Introduce Nurse Staffing Bill  »

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In: Health Care Reform, HMO, Home, Hospitals, Politics

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

Minnesota is a unique state in many ways. For example, the infamous “Duck Duck Gray Duck” versus “Duck Duck Goose” debate still confuses this native Michigander. The healthcare landscape in Minnesota mirrors this individuality. Unlike a vast portion of the country, Minnesota has relatively few for-profit hospitals (2 out of 145 hospitals statewide). Having experienced the impact of a for-profit takeover first-hand on my home city of Detroit, it is evident that Minnesota’s public and nonprofit hospitals are worth protecting.

In 2011, the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), a 7-hospital system in Detroit, Michigan was purchased by for-profit Vanguard Health.
… Read more about: Keep for-profit out of Minnesota: Lessons from Michigan  »

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In: HMO, Home, Insurance, Legislative Policy, Uncategorized

by Rose Roach

MNA Executive Director

As an organization representing 21,000 healthcare professionals, the vast majority of whom are registered nurses, MNA has long advocated for reforms that make healthcare more affordable and accessible to patients who need it because the safety and care of patients is our number one priority. As part of that advocacy we have been calling for regulations that hold Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) accountable for public tax dollars they receive to provide coverage for those who need it most.

Yet with billions going to the HMOs every year to administer public programs, the public has no information about how much of that money is actually providing care to patients who rely on MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance, and how much is going into CEO salaries, reserves, marketing and lobbying.
… Read more about: Make HMOs Accountable for their Public Funds  »

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In: Health Care Reform, Home, Issues, Press Releases

Contact:  Buddy Robinson
(218) 727-0207
buddy@citizensfed.org

Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Healthcare Advocates Call for HMO Accountability
HMOs and state contracts need to be audited as they stand to pocket $6 billion

ST. PAUL – May 4, 2017 – Healthcare advocates and nurses are calling for accountability of the state’s Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), including their state contracts assets worth billions of dollars. The Minnesota Legislature has deregulated HMOs to become for-profit entities, which would allow them to convert $6 billion in public assets to shareholders.

“There are significant indications of fraudulent overpayments – wasting both state and federal taxpayer funds,” said Buddy Robinson of the Greater Minnesota Health Care Coalition.
… Read more about: Media Advisory  »

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In: Health Care Reform, Healthcare, Home, Issues, Legislative Policy, Single Payer

By Charlotte Zabawa RN

Retired Nurse and MNA Member

I am Charlotte Zabawa, and I am a retired registered nurse and a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association and a member of the SCVWA Indivisible. For many years, I’ve devoted my volunteer time to moving us closer to a humane healthcare system that cares for everyone when they need it, not just when they can afford it. I spent most of my career as a post-partum nurse, and I can tell you how desperately we need to fix our broken healthcare system.
… Read more about: The Time for Humane Healthcare for All is Now  »

big pharma

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In: Education, Home, Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United

By Megan Gavin

MNA Education Specialist

MNA is excited to invite members to a day of workshops with Dr. Alana Glaser, faculty from NNU & Rutgers University’s Women’s Global Health Leadership Program. Alana will speak on the topic of Big Pharma, Inequality, and the Future of American Healthcare. Alana’s research has connected US nursing practice to international concerns of inequality, public health, militarization, and the relationship among these phenomena. She has taught classes on the impact austerity measures, privatization, and the welfare state have on spreading infectious diseases and exacerbating health disparities. Her research interests include domestic and service sector work, migration, class, gender, race, aging, labor process, and political economy.
… Read more about: Save the date: National Nurses United Education Sessions June 20th  »

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In: Activism, Health Care Reform, Home, Insurance, Politics, Single Payer

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

April 11 brought Minnesotans together for a Day of Action for Healthcare for All. A crowd gathered near Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s headquarters in Eagan to rally for a publicly funded healthcare system that covers everyone and costs less: Medicare for All.

Speakers from the Minnesota Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Land Stewardship Project, and Physicians for a National Health Program energized dozens of attendees with a call for Medicare for All, which would ensure access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.

The group then went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield headquarters with a letter asking for Blue Cross CEO Michael Guyette to publicly commit to lowering premiums and selling individual insurance products statewide.
… Read more about: Day of Action Calls for Healthcare for All  »

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In: Activism, Home, Nursing Education, Student Nurses

By Barb Brady

MNA Communications Specialist

More than 500 student nurses from schools throughout Minnesota learned the importance of advocating for patients at the bedside and in the public arena at MNA’s Student Day on the Hill on April 4.

“You need to get your voices out there for patients and the profession,” Essentia Health Duluth RN and MNA member Emily Kniskern told students and faculty, adding that legislators often are not familiar with nurses’ issues.

“Legislators need nurses’ and patients’ perspectives” so they can make decisions that ensure nurses can safely care for their patients, she said.
… Read more about: Nursing students learn key role: advocating for patients away from the bedside  »

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In: Activism, Bernie Sanders, Home, Legislative Policy, Minimum Wage, Nurses, Robin Hood Tax, Single Payer

By Katie Gjertson

MNA Political Coordinator

This June 9 – 11, several thousand progressive activists from across the country will gather in Chicago for the People’s Summit 2.0. It’s a multi-organizational, multi-racial, multi-issue conference, co-hosted by the National Nurses United. The event goals are to form a broad coalition committed to building a people’s movement united around social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

MNA members are invited to attend, and those who haven’t been to an event like this before are the perfect candidate. These events feature high-powered speeches by progressive leaders that will leave participants fired up to get involved.
… Read more about: The People’s Summit 2.0  »