Nurses Influencing Healthcare

Nurses Activism

Published

2003 Nurse in Washington Internship (NIWI)

March 2-5, 2003

Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel

Arlington, Virginia

The Nurse in Washington Internship program provides nurses the opportunity to learn how to influence health care through the legislative process. Participants learn from a distinguished faculty of health policy experts and government officials, many of whom are nurses, network with other nurses and visit members of Congress. Nurses who want to make the trip to Capitol Hill for this event need to act fast. The deadline for pre-registration is February 17th, 2003. Nurses will learn the nuts and bolts of the legislative process and how they can influence healthcare policy at all levels. As committed voters and active community members, nurses make up a formidable constituency with information and opinions that lawmakers need and want to hear. The Nursing Organizations Alliance, a group of more than 50 nursing organizations, including the American Nurses Association, sponsors this internship program. For more info and details on participating, see:

http://www.nursing-alliance.org/niwi.htm

For an application to participate, contact [email protected]

The "Write" Stuff

A Law Needs Money to Make It All Happen

Take for instance the Nurse Reinvestment Act (NRA). The bill was passed in August 2002, sending a significant signal to the nursing community that President Bush, the Senate, and the House of Representatives recognized the national nursing shortage crisis and would support measures to correct it. But that was just the first step. Step two is getting money from the appropriations committees of the House and Senate to fund it.

The NRA will be meaningless if there's no money to support the proposals for vital programs-scholarships, grants, loans, training and work programs, and advertising-designed to help address the nursing shortage and invigorate each nurse's ability to deliver high-quality healthcare. All of these NRA proposals are badly needed to breathe new life into nursing.

Nursing organizations and nursing leaders are united behind the request for $250 million in appropriations to fund the NRA. Now all we need is for the appropriations committees and the House and the Senate to agree to the amount of money we know we need.

Where Do Nurses Come In? For the answer to that, see,[/i] http://community.nursingspectrum.com/MagazineArticles/article.cfm?AID=8657

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