Honor Our Nurses

With so many competing ideas in American public life, there are many things we may disagree on as a nation – especially when it comes to health care. However, one thing we should all agree on is the vital and unsung role nurses play in our medical system.
Last month marked the 20th annual National Nurses Week, an event created by the American Nurses Association to recognize the contributions that nursing and nurses make to our community. The United States has the best hospitals in the world, but all too often, we overlook the integral role that nurses play.
There is so much more we can do to help take care of the nurses who take care of us. That’s why I’ve introduced the National Nurse Act of 2011, which would provide guidance to encourage those interested in the nursing profession to achieve their dreams both right here in Queens and across the nation.
It would also advise the Surgeon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory Committee on how to improve standards, retention, readiness and career development by creating a new position – Office of the National Nurse, which would encourage nurses to further their education and development and incentivize individuals to volunteer and create projects that inform the public and help achieve better health.
Nurses are the first to look after patients – providing daily checkups, handling day-to-day care and administrating medicine – and often the last ones people see at the end of a hospital stay. They are truly on the front lines in our health care system.
Since 2009, we have lost three hospitals in Queens with the closures of St. John’s, Parkway and Mary Immaculate. Over 2,600 jobs have been lost, and doctors and nurses, the backbone of the industry, lost their jobs. We must make sure that we take care of those who take care of us.
Last year’s health reform bill was a good start because local hospitals, like the new emergency care facility at St. John’s, will no longer be forced to foot the bill for the uninsured. Once all of the law’s provisions are implemented, doctors and nurses won’t be forced onto the streets and residents will continue to receive the best possible care.
Our nurses play such an important role in making sure that we have the best medical system and best care in the world. No one knows this better than those who rely upon them every day. That’s why I’m proud to be joined by more than a dozen organizations nationwide and several members of Congress in supporting the National Nurse Act and the brilliant work done by our nurses and nursing professionals.