Join the Fight for Safe Federal Staffing Ratios!
As nurses, our first priority is patient care. Unfortunately, in many hospitals, the first priority for administration is cutting costs. Those two things just don’t go together when lives are in the balance. The result is critically understaffed hospitals. And as working conditions worsen and the quality of patient care deteriorates, nurses are leaving the profession and hospitals are facing ever greater difficulty recruiting new nurses.
Nurses and healthcare workers in Nevada understand this issue all too well. SEIU Nevada nurses and healthcare workers at CHW's St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in Las Vegas have negotiated some of the strongest ratios in the country. We believe every patient in America deserves the same in their hospital.
The solution is HR 2123, the Safe Staffing Standards Act currently under consideration by the United States Congress. This bill would set minimum nurse-to-patient ratios to ensure patient safety and the quality of care. The standards would also account for the acuity of patients, so nurses and hospital staff will know they can deliver the quality of care their patients need.
Join with the nearly 200,000 registered nurses of SEIU Healthcare's Nurse Alliance and the United American Nurses in supporting this important federal legislation to improve patient safety and care quality in all America's hospitals!
What Can You Do to Help?
Learn More About the Legislation
Click here to download the bill summary with information on what the specific nurse-to-patient ratios the legislation would adopt and how they would be enforced.
Click here to download a fact sheet on why nurse-to-patient ratios are needed and how they can improve patient safety and the quality of health care in America.
Contact Your Member of Congress
Supporters of this legislation are trying to get as many legislators as possible to cosponsor the bill, so that it has broad support when it is next heard in committee.
Tell Nevada's Members of Congress the importance of nurse-to-patient ratios in improving care in our hospitals. Send them an email, fax, or letter today to encourage them to cosponsor the Safe Staffing Bill!
To find out who your representative is and send them an email, click here!
The Honorable Shelley Berkley
2340 Paseo Del Prado, Suite D-106
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 220-9823 (phone)
(702) 220-9841 (fax)
The Honorable Jon Porter
2470 St. Rose Pkwy. Suite 204
Henderson, NV 89074
(702) 387-4941 (phone)
(702) 434-1378 (fax)
The Honorable Dean Heller
400 S. Virginia St., Suite 502
Reno, NV 89501
(775) 686-5760 (phone)
(775) 686-5711 (fax)
405 Idaho St., Suite 214
Elko, NV 89801
(775) 777-7920 (phone)
(775) 777-7922 (fax)
Here is a sample letter:
Dear Rep. Berkley:
I am fortunate enough to live in your district, and you have been a terrific advocate for working Nevadans throughout your time in the Legislature! Today I am writing to ask you to continue that tradition, and cosponsor HR 2123, the Safe Staffing Bill. As a nurse in a largely for-profit health care market, we need a law that will put patients first, and not allow health care administrators to cut costs by short staffing nurses. It’s bad for retention, bad for morale, and most of all, it can be deadly for patients.
At the St Rose Hospitals here in Las Vegas, union nurses have negotiated safe staffing ratios into their contract, and it has proven what nurses have always known – ratios improve recruitment, retention, and patient care.
Please cosponsor HR 2123!
Sincerely,
, RN, _________ Hospital
Want more information? Contact SEIU Nevada Political Director Morgan Levi at 702-210-3187 or mlevi@seiunv.org.