Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I was a nurse for over 30 years before I came to Congress and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) and I talk about it. We are still nurses. We just happen to have a side job as being a Congressperson. That is the way we look at it here. That is why I take the nursing shortage very personally; and also why, last December when we passed a version of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, I was happy that we started looking at the issue because it is an important issue to all of us. But we still need to do more for our nurses. That is why I and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono) introduced H.R. 4654, the Nurse Retention and Quality of Care Act. This is a bill that provides $20 million in grant monies to hospitals to help them become magnet hospitals. On Long Island where I live, we have an RN vacancy rate of 8 percent and an 16 percent LPN vacancy rate. In addition, 126,000 nurses are needed nationwide. One solution to keep and retain nurses immediately would be to help hospitals obtain magnet hospital status. Magnet hospitals are hospitals that have reorganized care to be more hands-on, team-oriented, patient-centered, and as a result are attracting more nurses.”