RNs Join Council Members, Community Leaders to Demand Safe Patient Staffing Bill in DC

In an effort to dramatically improve care at District of Columbia hospitals, registered nurses represented by National Nurses United on Monday joined with D.C. Council members and community leaders to announce the introduction of the 2015 Patient Protection Act. Modeled after a successful California law, the 2015 Patient Protection Act sets specific limits on the number of patients RNs can care for (nurse-to-patient ratios) in Washington, D.C.’s hospitals. "This legislation is very important to ensure quality of care for residents of the District of Columbia," Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said...click below to read more. 
- photos by Rick Reinhard

Mendelson, who is co-sponsoring the legislations, was joined at the press conference by co-sponsors Council members Elissa Silverman, Charles Allen and Vincent Orange, NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN and other nurse leaders, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO spokesperson Chris Garlock, and faith leaders Rev. Graylan Hagler and Rabbi Gilah Langner. "Hospitals are shortchanging patients by shortchanging staffing." Registered nurses, who “see the crisis every day” are fighting for this bill because protecting patients is an intrinsic part of their calling, said Stephanie Simms, RN, an NICU nurse at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “Nurses at our hospital and hospitals across this city are short staffed and stretched thin, which makes it impossible for us to give patients the care they need and deserve,” said Fidelis Kweyila, RN, medical-surgical nurse at Providence. “We will not rest until the Patient Protection Act is enacted in the District of Columbia so that every patient is protected.” Local faith leaders also spoke out at this morning’s press conference, including Rabbi Gilah Langner, who underscored the “special place in [her] heart for those who heal the sick and comfort the afflicted,” and the Rev. Graylan Hagler who said that in the community fight for nurses to get the resources to deliver quality care, “No one is going to stop us!”