NURSING ISSUES — PEF nurses Debbie Egel and June Edwards talk with state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson New statewide committee pushes nurses agenda By JUNE EDWARDS AND DEBBIE EGEL Greetings from PEF’s Statewide Nurses Committee. Our new committee is now in place and has plunged forward with our agenda. As you read in the June issue of The Communicator, we had a successful news conference in Albany on May 14th. The next day was just as productive as we lobbied for the current nursing bills that are before the Senate and the Assembly. We extend our sincere thanks to all those who donated nursing shoes and to the special guests who joined us on Nurses Lobby Day. The senators and the Assembly members were very receptive and concerned about the nursing shortage, and eagerly listened to our suggestions to begin solving this critical problem. We will continue to lobby for these bills because we firmly believe they will make our profession more appealing to current nurses and to those considering the profession. PEF Region 12 Coordinator Ruth Gaines talks with Assembly Member Patricia Eddington below. — Photos by Dave Feiden Why do we have a Nurses Committee? The PEF Statewide Nurses Committee encompasses all agencies and represents all nurse job titles and all registered nurses within PEF. Our mission: to protect the Nurse Practice Act; to unite nurses; and to educate nurses, other PEF members and the public about issues important to nurses and to public health. To accomplish our mission we plan to use the grassroots efforts of our nurses in developing a strong and active network with other educational and professional organizations on political action and lobbying, and contract negotiations. Our vision is that all PEF nurses will be empowered and united in working toward common goals. The committee feels strongly that we cannot accomplish these goals unless we mobilize the nurses in PEF. Therefore, we are asking that all nurses in PEF send us their home e-mail addresses and current job titles. This will enable us to more efficiently provide you with information about issues that affect you, and allow us to share our ideas among all the nurses in the many job titles of nurses in PEF. Please send your name, job title and e-mail address to nurses@pef.org. Our committee has established some short-term and long-term goals. The short-term goals include identifying all nurses within PEF. This will facilitate the communication among all the nurses within PEF, which is our second short-term goal. Here are our long-term goals: • preserving the nurse Practice Act; • advocating for nursing judgment; • supporting reclassification/ reallocation of all PEF nurses’ titles; and, • establishing a statewide system of communication to all PEF nurses. We’ve created several steering committees to help us reach these goals. Our information committee will be responsible for identifying all the PEF nurses and for establishing the statewide communication system. The legislative committee is focused on the current nursing bills. The nurse issues and practice committee is focusing on the current issues and practices of the nursing profession, and the program committee is working on our education day and annual PEF convention activities. The statewide nurses committee is up and running, but we’d like to hear from you. We are open to your suggestions and appreciate your comments. June Edwards: 315-464-8926, and Debbie Egel: 718-264-3307. The Communicator Home Page

Lobby for these nurses’ bills: • S4779— Safe Staffing Bill • A7127/S3515— Mandatory Overtime Bill • A3259/S53660— Whistleblower Bill • A2581/S510— Nursing Care Quality Protection Act • A7284/S1830— Exempt Clause Repeal Bill