UPMC Magee Womens Hospital nurses travel to D.C. to advocate for patient care
As nurses from UPMC Magee Womens Hospital continue to negotiate their first union contract, two of them took a trip to our nation's capital to expand the fight for their patients.
Michelle Hart, a neonatal nurse practitioner, and Jean Stone, a maternal newborn registered nurse, were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
"If we want there to be change at the local level, at the state level, at the federal level, we have to keep taking our voices and our experience and our power everywhere that we have the opportunity to go," Stone said.
It's what they've come to realize amidst an ongoing nursing shortage, with a shortfall of 20,000 in Pennsylvania, the worst in the country.
"If we don't make a lot of these changes now, not only are our patients at risk, but our whole profession and the sustainability for the future is at risk," Hart said.
They had the chance to discuss these issues with the staffers of both Congressman Chris Deluzio and Sen. John Fetterman as part of a greater coalition of more than 150 nurses in town from their professional organization, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
Specifically, they brought up staffing ratios, asking for them to be the minimum needed to ensure safety, which they said they've yet to reach, unlike their counterparts at West Penn and Allegheny General.
"Those are minimum standards, and we are asking for our employer, at our very excellent institution, to live up to those standards," Stone said.
What the nurses said is essential to addressing their problems would be the passage of three bills. The first is the Keeping Obstetrics Local Act, which would improve access to quality maternity care and support hospitals facing financial challenges. The second is the bipartisan Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act, which would increase patients' access to care by supporting the nursing educational pipeline. The last bill would affirm nurses as "professionals" in order to qualify for higher federal loan amounts for advanced degrees.
A spokesperson for Deluzio's office told KDKA they were "glad to meet… to talk through their important work to keep moms and babies safe and potential legislation to support." KDKA did not hear back from Fetterman's office.
The nurses said the meetings went really well, and they left with more hope for the future of their patients and their profession.
"Really inspired and excited to keep the work going," Stone said.
