NURSES KEEP THEIR FINGERS ON AMERICA’S PULSE:

By Chris Garlock
Union City
May 14, 2009

Wearing blazing red hospital scrubs, more than 500 nurses rallied yesterday under bright blue skies outside the U.S. Capitol, demanding single-payer healthcare. Actors like MASH's Mike Farrell and Dharma & Greg’s  Mimi Kennedy lent their celebrity power but the nurses, who came from hospitals across the country, were the stars of the “National RN Day of Action.” "We are the nurses, the mighty mighty nurses," went up the chant as they waved placards saying "Guaranteed Healthcare" and "Stop The Insurance Industry Bailout." Farrell - introduced by California Nurses Association President Rose Ann DeMoro - paid tribute to the frontline role of nurses and their healthcare colleagues in the healthcare crisis "that leaves millions to suffer and die because they don't fit in the margins of profit. Since when is healthcare a product?" he asked. "We have to take the profit (motive) out of healthcare," added 27-year-old cancer survivor Adrian Campbell Montgomery. “I’m cancer-free but financially ruined; when does this end?” Metro Council President Jos Williams welcomed the crowd to the nation’s capital, leading them in a loud demand for “Single payer now” that echoed off the nearby Capitol buildings. Healthcare activist – and DC Labor FilmFest Co-Chair - Mark Dudzic proudly joined his fellow members of the “Baucus 13” on-stage, single-payer advocates who have been arrested (click here for the video) and dragged from recent Congressional hearings for demanding that the issue be included in the ongoing healthcare debate and discussions. A centerpiece of the lobby day - co-sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, New York State Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union Nurse Alliance - was a new bill sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D- CA) to guarantee a safe ratio of nurses to patients.