Here is a press release from California Nurses Association in regards to this topic:
Prominent Hollywood Director, Producers Volunteered to Create Ad
Ad to Run on Broadcast of Dramatization of Schwarzenegger's Life
OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nurses Association
today announced the launch of a television advertising campaign this week
challenging the policies of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on patient safety and
his depiction of Registered Nurses as a "special interest."
Ads will begin to run in every major California cable market on Wednesday,
including on the rebroadcast of an A&E cable dramatization of Schwarzenegger's life.
Additionally, the ad will air across California on a number of other
cable networks, including CNN, Fox News, Lifetime, the Food Channel, Oxygen, the Learning Channel and some national markets next week.
Robert Greenwald, one of the nation's premier documentary and cable and
network film directors, volunteered his time to direct the one-minute ad. He
was joined by a production team of veteran professionals who also donated
their time to help shine a light on the effects of Gov. Schwarzenegger's
policies and his attack on nurses.
Gov. Schwarzenegger has ordered a rollback in the safety rules to assure
minimum safe RN staffing in California hospitals and proposed elimination of
the independent board created a century ago to provide uniform nursing care
standards to protect patients. He has also vetoed numerous bills to expand
healthcare coverage, reduce hospital closures, increase nursing education
programs, and reduce RN workplace injuries.
In response to RN protests over his policies, Gov. Schwarzenegger
dismissed RNs as "a special interest who don't like me because I am always
kicking their butt." In contrast, the governor has yet to criticize corporate
interests, such as the multi-billion healthcare industry. Corporate donors
have given Schwarzenegger over $50 million in contributions, the Orange County Register reported last week.
The ad contrasts Schwarzenegger's ridicule of RNs as "special interests"
with portraits of three RNs who provide bedside care in Los Angeles. "One
thing the public should know," says Melita Dionosio-Temple, RN in the ad, "is
one day you will be in that bed and realize that because of the number of
patients one nurse has to take care of you may be calling and there is nobody
there."
"When he ran for governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger presented himself as a
populist who would put the 'people' in charge of policy in California. But the
reality has been far different," says CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
"He has promoted the interests of his corporate donors at the expense of
patients and consumers while branding nurses, who care for our families when
they are sick and vulnerable, and teachers, who educate our children, as
special interests."
"We hope this ad will help expose the contrast between his rhetoric and
his record that more Californians are beginning to recognize every day,"
DeMoro said.
DeMoro also expressed the gratitude of CNA and its 60,000 RN members to
Greenwald and his acclaimed production team for volunteering many hours to
produce the ad.
Greenwald has directed more than 50 television movies, miniseries and
feature films, garnering dozens of Emmy, Golden Globe, and other prestigious
awards. Among his notable credits are the recent documentary "Outfoxed: Robert Murdoch's War on Journalism," "The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron," and "Uncovered: The War on Iraq."
In a statement about the new ad, Greenwald today said, "Out of respect for
true heroes and heroines in our world, I have happily donated my time and
efforts to setting the record straight." The ad concludes by referring viewers for more information to web sites for CNA,
http://www.calnurse.org, and Arnoldwatch.org, a website maintained by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. The ad is also posted on both websites.
"Protecting the public is the nurse's role and Governor Schwarzenegger
owes the nurses of California an apology for his demeaning comments about them and he owes the public a restoration of patient safety rules," said FTCR
President Jamie Court. "The governor needs to spend more time with nurses and less time with hospital executives and nursing home operators."
SOURCE California Nurses Association
Web Site:
http://www.calnurse.org
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