Message from the National Nurse Team

The following is a guest entry from Teri Mills

Read Teri's Proposal at www.nationalnurse.blogspot.com and then....

As many of you know, the National Nurse Team has been working with nursing leaders in Congress for a bill. Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) has taken the lead and her staff spoke with us a few weeks ago, stating that the bill was headed to Legislative Counsel. We are asking Congress to create an Office of the National Nurse to focus on providing all Americans with preventive health care resources.

The Office of the National Nurse would provide Americans with the tools to prevent disease and effectively manage chronic illness thereby reducing utilization of health care resources. The National Nurse will oversee state coordinators who will assemble volunteer nurse teams to provide screening, education and referral services in their communities. The office is necessary to acknowledge the critical role nurses play in hands-on patient care and education.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Howard Dean used these exact words when he announced his presidency in June 2003. Each of us can make a difference to help move the bill for a National Nurse forward. Please email Representative Capps’ office at jeremy.sharp@mail.house.gov or if you prefer, call Rose Gonzales, the Government Relations Specialist at the American Nurses Association (301-628-5000).

Please tell Representative Capps and Rose Gonzales The Office of the National Nurse will serve to:

1. Focus Americans on preventive health practices.

2. Focus on reducing health care costs through prevention and education.

3. Complement government services already in place; help prioritize and deliver the health agenda to the nation.

4. Provide a trusted unified source for people to consult first when considering options for addressing their wellness needs.

5. Involve entire communities because nurses in the community they live in will provide services.

6. Continue the collaborative work nurses do with physicians and other health care providers in individual settings on a community and national level.

7. Develop National Nurse teams to serve as prepared volunteer groups in emergency situations.

8. Demonstrate the value of education as an important intervention to help decrease health care costs.

9. Focus national attention on the value of nursing; inspire entry into nursing careers, and enhance the value of practicing nurses.

10. Attract nurses to become educators by demonstrating teaching in action.

I would appreciate hearing the result of your call and/or email. You can reach me at teri@nationalnurse.info

Florence Nightingale declared, “I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.”

Teri Mills, RN
Terri Polick, RN
Alisa Schneider, RN
The National Nurse Team