NewsPressArticle 4/2/11

St. Bernard from Lehigh leads nurses rally in Tallahassee

Apr. 2, 2011                                                                                                                      Proudly serving
Written by news-press.com                                                                                              FORT MYERS  SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
                                                                                                                                                        

St. Bernard Paxton leads the National Nurses Organizing Committee's march and rally in Tallahassee on
Thursday. / Special to the news-press.com 
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A 165-pound St. Bernard mascot from Lehigh led dozens of nurses as they marched and rallied at the Florida Capitol on Thursday. 

The dog then waited calmly outside the Supreme Court building while hospital workers and union organizers talked to Gov. Rick Scott and legislators promoting patient protection issues.

“Studies show that improving ratios saves lives and money more so than trying to cut other fiscal corners,” said Gail Ghigna Hallas, RN, PhD, author of No Other Medicine and member of the National Nurses Organizing Committee who traveled from Lee County with Paxton, her 165-pound St. Bernard.



Paxton waits calmly outside the Supreme Court building in Tallahassee.  / Special to the news-press.com
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“We’re hoping to get legislation similar to what California has,” she said.

Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD, agrees.  Dumpel, the National Director of Nursing Practice and Patient Advocacy for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, said, “In California, with ratios, RNs now have the support and time they need to provide higher quality care.”

According to a news release, the Florida RN ratios would require minimum ratios by unit, with increased staffing when needed based on the severity of patient illnes

"Research proves there's a significant need for such an approach," Hallas said.  "Cutting ratios to one RN per four patients could save 72,000 lives nationally (The American Journal of Public Health, August 2005), while another found that up to 22,000 Americans lives are lost each year due to unsafe ratios (Journal of American Medical Association, October 22, 2002).  Other studies have linked everything from the rise of staphylococcus infections to the spread of pneumonia to unsafe ratios for direct-care RNs.