Monthly Archives: May 2013

05.23.13
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Program Expands Access to Nurse-Managed Care

Senator Ted Erickson’s (R-26) Senate Bill 5, Community-Based Health Care Clinics, was signed into law by Governor Corbett on May 21, 2013. Now Act 10 of 2013, this law provides for the establishment of the Community-Based Health Care Program within the Department of Health, paving the way for certified registered nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists and certified registered nurse anesthetists to receive grant funding to provide greater access to health care services.

The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, representing more than 211,000 registered nurses in Pennsylvania, supported Senate Bill 5 and the inclusion of APRNs within the legislation. These advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) open, manage and maintain clinics across the Commonwealth. In today’s changing health care environment, APRNs deliver high-quality and cost-effective primary care, and reduce overall health care costs by expanding and improving access to the underserved and uninsured.

“PSNA is proud to be a leading voice for increased patient access to nurse-managed care,” states PSNA Chief Executive Officer Betsy M. Snook, MEd, BSN, RN. “Senator Erickson has been a champion of this vital legislation and we thank him as he stands with nurses during these transformative times. We also applaud Governor Corbett for making this bill a legislative priority.”

05.23.13
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Thank You

The PSNA Board of Directors and staff would like to thank our attendees from this week’s Nursing Awards and Summit. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and will join us for our Fall Summit: Environmental Health titled “Ecocentric Nursing Practice: Sustaining a Healthy Future in Local to Global Environments”. Watch our site and Facebook for pictures of this week’s events! A special thank you to our host, DeSales University, Center Valley.

05.23.13
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Oakland City Council Approves Resolution to Support Robin Hood Tax

Registered Nurse Thorild Urdal told the Oakland City Council recently how she sees patients struggling everyday to survive during these tough economic times. They’re delaying healthcare, rationing medication or not buying medication at all.

“I see them coming in worse and worse shape, “ the Alta Bates Medical Center nurse said.

That’s why Urdal and her fellow nurses are calling for a Robin Hood Tax to help our communities recover from the economic crisis caused by Wall Street.

On Tuesday, they sought the city council’s support for U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s H.R. 1579, the Inclusive Prosperity Act, which embodies the Robin Hood Tax.

It’s a small tax – 0.5 percent on the sale of stocks and lesser rates on bonds, derivatives and currency trades.

The tax can raise up to $350 billion a year that can go toward funding healthcare, education, jobs, housing and retirement and help fight climate change and HIV/AIDS.

After hearing from the nurses, council members voted unanimously to support Ellison’s bill.

Earlier in the day, nurses and other community members held a “Robin Hood Faire” outside Oakland City Hall.

The event was part of a week of actions by California Nurses Association and other labor and community groups to call for Oakland leaders stand up to Wall Street and corporate interests.

At the fair, Robin Hood Tax campaigners wore Robin Hood hats and educated passersby about Wall Street sales tax.

They gave out “Wall Street dollars,” which represented new revenue the tax would generate. People could put the fake bills in bags marked with critical goals of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, including “Medicare for All,” “End Global AIDS/HIV,” “Retirement Security,” “Quality Education,” “Affordable Housing,” “Living Wage Jobs” and “Reverse Climate Change.

Three-year-old Isiah Player stuffed his Wall Street dollar in the bag for education.

“I think the Robin Hood Tax is a great idea, especially for education,” Isiah’s mother, Judith Barajas, said after learning about the tax. “I talk to him about how education is so important.”

Judith doesn’t want her son to see her struggles. She fears getting sick because she lost her healthcare when she was laid off. The two don’t have a permanent place to live – often staying with friends and family. She wants to finish her college degree at St. Mary’s College but is already swimming in student debt.

“It’s just hard out here,” she said as she watched her son play with a blue balloon tied to his wrist. “Robin Hood Tax sounds like it can help.”

05.22.13
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MNA NewsScan, May 22, 2013: More proof- heart patients survive with better nurse staffing

NOTES ON NURSING

More Proof:  Heart Patients Survive with Better Nurse Staffing    “This finding suggests that the correlation between cardiac arrest incidence and case survival was partly attributable to the hospital factors in the model,” the authors write. A hospital’s nurse-to-bed ratio and geographic region correlated with the greatest shift in the relationship between incidence and survival.

Moore MCHero Nurse Protects Newborn from Tornado   Miraculously, all the staff, patients and families survived the storm.  That includes nurse Cheryl Stoepker, who used her own body to protect a newborn she’d delivered barely an hour earlier.

LABOR UPDATES

UMass Nurses Poised to Strike if Today’s Negotiations Fail   Nurses at UMass Memorial’s University Campus are staging the 24-hour strike to draw attention to what they call deplorable patient conditions.

Median CEO Pay Rises to $9.7M in 2012   CEO pay, which fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011, has never been higher. Meanwhile, Pay for all U.S. workers rose 1.1 percent in 2010, 1.2 percent in 2011 and 1.6 percent last year – not enough to keep up with inflation.