Do You Want Safe Staffing ?
Sign a Petition and Drive this Bill into Law
Petition Drive is "on"
Thousands of Nurses Launch Statewide Petition Drive from May 1– 7
To Garner Public Support for Safe Patient Care Legislation
Activity Will Culminate on May 9 With Ambulance Caravan Traversing the State Picking Up Petitions for Delivery to the State House at 2 p.m.
Ambulances will make stops at 10 hospitals, with local press conferences at each stop (see list of stops and times below)
Thousands of nurses across the Commonwealth will mark National Nurses Week by participating in a statewide petition drive May 1 – 7 being organized by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). With the theme, "Registered Nurses: The Key to Quality Care," the signature collection effort is designed to educate the public about problems associated with poor staffing levels in Massachusetts health care facilities and to garner public support for legislation to insure that patients receive the level of nursing care they expect. Nurses and the MNA believe the measure is essential to protecting patients, preserving the quality of health care in Massachusetts, and ending the nursing shortage. Nurses Week is an annual event that runs from May 6 – 12.
As part of the campaign, nurses will be outside their own health care facilities, at local shopping centers, post offices, youth sporting events, at T stops and other public places circulating flyers and a petition that asks for citizens’ support for HB 1186, Quality Patient Care/Safe Staffing Legislation. The bill was filed by the MNA and sponsored by State Senator Robert Creedon (D-Brockton) and State Representative Christine Canavan, (D-Brockton).
On May 9th to culminate the petition drive, three MNA-driven ambulances, followed by buses with MNA members, will traverse the state, stopping at 10 different hospitals to pick up petitions and to hold local press conferences at each stop. The ambulances’ final destination will be the front steps of the State House in Boston, where Representative Canavan, who is an RN, will greet the caravan to receive the petitions on behalf of the legislature.
The ambulances will travel three routes:
- Western Massachusetts and Metrowest, making its first stop at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield (7 a.m.), on to Providence Hospital in Holyoke (9 a.m.), to Worcester Medical Center (11 a.m.), to Newton-Wellesley Hospital (12:30 p.m.), and arriving at the State House at 2 p.m.
- North Shore and Cambridge, beginning with a stop at Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport (10 a.m.), to Northeast Health Systems in Beverly (11 a.m.), to Cambridge Hospital (12:30 p.m.), and arriving at the State House at 2 p.m.
- South of Boston, starting at Cape Cod Hospital (10 a.m.), on to Jordan Hospital in Plymouth (11 a.m.), to Quincy Medical Center (12:30 p.m.) and on to the State House.
For interviews with nurses participating in the drive from your coverage area, contact David Schildmeier at the MNA, 781.249.0430. Interested media are invited to ride on the buses if they so choose.To download a copy of the petition. For more information on the drive and the legislation, visit our petition drive page or call the MNA at 781.821.4625.
