National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act – S1031 (Boxer Bill)
Important egislation in Congress right now!
Read our Fact Sheet here in PDF format
Who Will Visit Our Patients?
Nurses at HHVN also ask why the Agency is demanding cutbacks and layoffs after a surplus year
Last Friday at Lobsterman Park, nurses, patients, therapists and social workers held a candle light vigil to protest the lay-off of nurses at Home Health Visiting Nurses of MaineHealth (HHVN). After a year in which the non-profit HHVN had a surplus revenue, the administration is calling for the lay-off of up to fourteen nurses starting in early November. This may leave some of our community's most vulnerable patients without services.
"If HHVN decides to go through with these lay-offs, there will not be enough nurses to visit patients. To lay-off nurses in a time when patient volume is up and we can barely manage to fit in all of our visits now is unimaginable," said Angie Eccles, RN at HHVN.
"We need these RNs on the team," said Annemarie Gautreau, an Occupational Therapist employed at HHVN. "The therapists can't replace what the nurses do. I don't want to see corners cut on services for our patients who rely on the care we provide in their homes. These lay-offs are unacceptable. We believe that Homehealth can find a way in their budget to continue to provide appropriate care with safe staffing."
Continuing Eduction Class- Collective Patient Advocacy:
Building A Strong RN Leadership In All Clinical Settings
This course examines the critical importance of the RN role in protecting patients and RN practice in all clinical practice settings; and identifies the tools available for solving facility-based patient safety, RN practice, and working condition issues and how to apply these tools to build a collective professional response in your facility.
Dates & Locations:
Tuesday
November 17
9am-4pm
Ivey's Motor Lodge
241 North St
Houlton, ME |
Wednesday
November 18
9am-4pm
Hilton Garden Inn
250 Haskell Rd
Bangor, ME |
Tell Congressman Mike Michaud "Our Patients Can't Wait!"
We do not have the time to wait or the lives to spare. Only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare-for-All, will fix our broken system. Our health and the health of our patients should not be sacrificed for limited reforms that will not solve the crisis.
A single-payer system, as in an enhanced and expanded Medicare-for-all, is the only affordable way to assure guaranteed health care for all Americans.
Tell Mike Michaud to vote in favor of Guaranteed Healthcare HR 676 http://www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org/
Call him and tell him to support HR 676 this Fall!
207-942-6935 or email morgan.pottle@mail.house.gov
A letter from a Houton Regional Hospital RN:
Dear Representative Michaud,
I am a nurse who works in the County at a small critical access hospital in the Emergency Department. Everyday we are seeing more and more people using the Emergency Department for issues that can be addressed in a doctors office. Most of these people do not have health insurance so receiving emergency care is their only option even though it is expensive. My small hospital cannot afford to keep seeing this kind of patient. We HAVE to have a single payer, expanded Medicare for all, reform to stop this misuse of our emergency departments.
EVERYONE in the state of Maine deserves health insurance. We are not a rich population we are a struggling population, most people here live from week to week. The burden of health insurance is becoming too much for many families throughout the County and the state. It is not just our hospital that is seeing this population of people it is all hospitals throughout Maine.
As a nurse I supported you and trust that you are working for the good of our communities. Please take a STAND and support a single payer health insurance plan for all!
-Dawn Kerekes, RN
Americans Deserve More From Health Care Debate
A Guest Column by MSNA/NNOC member Cecile Martin, Rn as printed in the Bangor Daily News
As a direct care nurse of more than 40 years, I am amazed at the lack of commitment on the part of our representatives in Washington to universal health care. It has led to countless Americans feeling unrepresented, forgotten and denied the care they deserve.
I recently had the privileged of representing the direct care nurses who are members of the Maine State Nurses Association-National Nurses Organizing Committee at forums on health care held with Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Mike Michaud.
I was disappointed with the events. Sen. Snowe seems too focused on giving another chance to insurance companies through her idea of “triggers,” while Rep. Michaud admitted he barely understood and did a poor job advocating for the “public option” at the heart of the Washington debate.
Both ideas are insufficient and neither addresses the crippling costs our patients face or achieves truly universal coverage. As a result health care would remain more of a privilege than a right.
MSNA-NNOC supports a form of universal health care coverage called single payer. Such a form of universal access to medical, dental and prescription coverage for all Americans is the only proposal thus far that would make health care available to every citizen, regardless of income.
Yet, our representatives continue to ignore this option in favor of complicated solutions that continue to favor the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies and big hospital corporations. The health care industry has become such a powerful player on Wall Street that the rights of the citizens on Main Street no longer seem to be at the forefront of the political debates.
And what do these insurance and other health care corporations want? A multi-tiered system, tilted towards those blessed with the ability to purchase high-end health insurance products from companies that seek to turn human suffering into profitable gain.
Why are we willing to watch as countless Americans suffer under the burden of a health care system that insists on payment “at the time services are rendered,” as if the purchase of health care is on the same level as buying a movie ticket or a new dress? Why are we satisfied with a system where medications are so costly that many either go without needed medications or skip doses? Why are we subsidizing the health care of our representatives in Washington, who don’t seem interested in improving the care of their constituents?
As Americans, we have mounted fierce, effective fights in this country to obtain and preserve our rights. The patients of this nation, and their advocates, now have no choice other than a full-throated campaign to win our right to health care. This is the human rights issue of our day for America.
Unfortunately, I have come in contact with patients who had poor and even fatal outcomes due to delayed or denied medical care due to lack of ability to pay. This, my fellow citizens, should find us all demonstrating in the streets. There is absolutely nothing equal about how health care is delivered in this country.
We should demand our rights as citizens to universal access to an affordable, top quality health care system. We still have great options to bring this about. HR 676 and S 703, by Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Bernie Sanders, would bring American health care closer in line with the European systems that outperform us. The “Kucinich Amendment” to the main House health care bill would allow states like Maine to experiment with similar state-based “single-payer” programs.
We need to speak out, loud and clear, to every representative in Washington, demanding that access to health care be recognized as a basic right for all Americans. We need to catch up to other industrialized nations in establishing a single-payer system that will not leave anyone out. We should demand the same level of medical, dental, optical and prescription drug coverage that they enjoy.
If our Washington representatives won’t bring health care to America — then it’s time to bring health care reform to Washington.
Cecile Martin has been a registered nurse for over 40 years. She currently works in the emergency department at Millinocket Regional Hospital.
Important News for Nurses at Catholic Hospitals
Bishops announce an Agreement on the Rights of Healthcare Workers
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the AFL-CIO announced a historic agreement on a set of principles respecting the rights of nurses and other employees who want to unionize at Catholic health care facilities.
In new report, Respecting the Just Rights of Workers: Guidance and Options for Healthcare and Unions, bishops call on Catholic health care employers to assure that employees have a free and fair choice when organizing a union. An excerpt from the report states:
“We share a commitment to a core principle of Catholic Social Teaching that workers have the right to decide through a fair process – free of coercion and based on accurate and truthful information – whether and by whom to be represented in the workplace.”
The bishops also recommend principles for appropriate conduct for both the employer and the union to ensure employees are able to make an informed decision without pressure from either side. The seven principles are guidelines to be used during and organizing campaign.
- Respect – no negative campaigning
- Equal access to Information
- Truthful and Balanced Communications
- No harassment, threats or intimidation
- A fair and quick process
- An enforceable ‘local agreement’ to be set between the employer and union at the beginning of an organizing campaign.
- Honoring the employee’s decision
“The number one reason nurses talk to me about organizing a union is for patient care. All nurses want to have the ability to address staffing concerns and nurse shortage issues and we all want to have a strong voice in our profession. When nurses want to organize they find themselves up against incredible odds from their employer’s anti-union campaign. This Agreement from the Catholic Bishops will give nurses the opportunity in those facilities to exercise their rights in an atmosphere of respect and free of fear and intimidation. This is a great start for patients and nurses,” -Cokie Giles, MSNA President, RN EMMC.
If you have any questions or would like a copy of the report please call MSNA/NNOC at 207-622-1057 or e-mail mainenurse@calnurses.org
Maine Nurses in Washington, DC
Over 30 RNs from Maine talked to our legislative delegation about patient advocacy issues.
Maine Legislature Passes Nurses' MRSA Prevention Bill
On June 4th the Maine House and Senate passed An Act Regarding the Prevention and Reporting of Methiciallin-Resistant Staph Aureus (MRSA).
The intent of this new law is to screen all patients at high risk for MRSA on admission and during hospital stays. This screening allows for early detection of MRSA. Currently, many patients are being admitted to hospitals with undetected MRSA and they are not separated from uninfected patients. Screening will be the first and most important step in controlling the spread of MRSA in our hospitals.
Robert Simpson, RN from DECH testifies at the
hearing to prevent hospital acquired MRSA
Read testimony from Andrea Longely, RN
Assignment Despite Objection Form
Much ADO About Staffing….
Q: What‘s an ADO and what does it have to do with me?
A: An Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form is a documentation tool which provides a means for you to object to an unsafe, or potentially unsafe, patient care assignment.
Q: Why should I fill out an ADO?
A: If, in your professional judgment, you believe a patient care assignment is unsafe, or potentially unsafe, you have a legal and professional obligation to notify your employer so the problem can be corrected and injury or harm to a patient can be averted. If your employer makes a decision not to correct the situation that response needs to be documented in order to protect yourself in the event of adverse outcomes for the patients or other staff.
Q: What if the supervisor disagrees with my assessment or states she is unable to correct the problem?
A: You should advise her that an ADO form will be completed.
Q: Does each RN working on the floor need to fill out a separate ADO in this situation?
A: No. In fact, it’s more effective for all the affected nursing staff to sign the ADO as a sign of consensus about the unsafe situation.
Q: What if we’re too busy to fill out an ADO form?
A: Make sure that SECTION VII-ACTION at the very bottom of the form is completed first. The remaining information in the form can be filled in later, or after, your shift.
Q: Where does the ADO go after we fill it out?
A: Copies of the ADO should go to the supervisor, the Professional Practice Committee (PPC), and your MSNA/NNOC Labor Representative (Mail to MSNA/NNOC at 160 Capitol St Suite 1, Augusta, ME 04330). Also save a copy for your records.
Q: Can I be disciplined or harassed for filling out an ADO?
A: Most supervisors and Nursing managers understand that this is an activity protected by law. If you believe your manager is trying to interfere with or discourage you and your co-workers from using the ADO notify your MSNA/NNOC Labor Rep immediately.
Download and fax or mail an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form
Nurses Talk Massachusetts Health Care Reform in Portland
Nurses from Southern Maine gathered for a Seminar on Health Care Reform and the Massachusetts Reform Plan. Sandy Eaton, RN leader and Board member for the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) spoke about the failure of the Massachusetts plan to increase access to quality healthcare or to lower costs.
The Plan is essentially subsidies and mandates. The taxpayers subsidize commercial health insurance for those up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Many of these people are paying toward premiums themselves for the first time, as well as deductibles and co-pays. The Bush administration, in exchange for the two-year extension of the $385m per year Medicaid waiver, extracted the provision that maintained the Uncompensated Care Pool and pushed the uninsured into commercial managed care plans. This shift, plus changes in the reimbursement formula, resulted in the undermining of safety-net hospitals and community health centers, and the enrichment of major teaching hospitals. Even though surveys showed that most people supported "healthcare reform" as popularly understood, those same surveys showed that 50% of those directly impacted by this 2006 reform felt they were worse off, while only 22% thought their lot had improved. Every individual was mandated to have health insurance if an option affordable to them was available, or face an annually increasing financial penalty at tax time, currently about $1000. The new bureaucracy called the Commonwealth Connector has, among its duties, defining what affordable means, without counting deductibles and co-pays. About 65,000 currently have proven themselves unable to afford any of the bare-bones plans approved by the Connector Board for those uninsured making more than 300% of the federal poverty level, but they still lack health insurance. Those who employ over ten workers are mandated to offer health insurance to them or face a fine of $295 per worker per year. For the first year, there was no mechanism in place to collect these penalties. The net result is that the costs to run the Massachusetts plan are much higher than projected. The revenue streams to pay these costs are far lower, so the state's general revenue is needed to close the gap, draining resources for such other areas as public education, public health and public safety.
“That's why I say the Massachusetts plan is not universal, is not sustainable and is not fair. But most politicians cannot admit these flaws, and they continue to support their export to other states and to the nation as a whole,” said Eaton. 
Catherine Bunker, RN from MDI spoke about her patients that are forced to go without necessary treatment, prescriptions and education due to underinsurance or lack of insurance.
“As a nurse, it is my duty and right to advocate for my patients – until we have Guaranteed Healthcare for everyone for life – many of my patients will suffer. This is unacceptable,” said Bunker.
She spoke about a Single Payer system as the single most equitable and affordable way to assure real healthcare access and quality and fairness for all Americans. For more information www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org
Maine Single Payer Health Care Reform Bill Held Over for 2010
The Insurance and Finance Committee voted to “hold over” Maine’s Single Payer legislation last week. The Committee wanted to first see what kind of reform the federal government was planning on enacting first. Many Committee members were very clear that they can wait another year, but that’s about all the time their constituents have to wait. The legislation will be taken up again next year. Look for updates on MSNA’s campaign for Guaranteed Healthcare for Everyone.
Download and fax or mail an Assignment Despite Objection (ADO) form
To Become a MSNA Member
To join the MSNA, please e-mail your name, address and phone number and we will contact you with a membership application.
MSNA Office
160 Capitol Street, Suite 1
Augusta, ME 04330
Tel: 207 622-1057 Toll free: 1-800-207-8611
Fax: 207-623-4072
