A Call to Action from the Nation's Nurses in the Wake of Newtown

Published

  1. Nurses: Do You Support a Call to Action in the Wake of Newtown + other shootings

    • 54
      I support need for improved mental health services for individuals and families
    • 7
      I do not support need for improved mental health services for individuals and families.
    • 3
      Unsure if improved mental health services for individuals and families.needed
    • 43
      I support increased student access elementary thru college to nurses and mental health professionals.
    • 7
      I do not support increased student access elementary thru college to nurses and mental health professionals.
    • 7
      Unsure of need for increased student access elementary thru college to nurses and mental health professionals
    • 28
      I support a ban on assault weapons and enacting other meaningful gun control reforms to protect society.
    • 34
      I do not support an assault weapons ban and enacting other meaningful gun control reforms to protect society.
    • 4
      Unsure of position on assault weapons ban and enacting other meaningful gun control reforms.
    • 28
      I support an armed police presence at schools.
    • 19
      I do not support an armed police presence at schools.
    • 14
      Unsure of position on an armed police presence at schools.
    • 33
      I support our Nursing Associations commitment to ending this cycle of preventable violence, death, and trauma
    • 16
      I do not support our Nursing Associations commitment to ending this cycle of preventable violence, death, and trauma.
    • 6
      Unsure of supporting our Nursing Associations commitment to ending this cycle of preventable violence, death, and trauma.

54 members have participated

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Reposting from PSNA Communications email. Karen

A Call to Action from the Nation's Nurses in the Wake of Newtown

More Than 30 Nursing Organizations Call for Action in Wake of Newtown Tragedy

(12/20/12)

Like the rest of the nation, America's nurses are heartbroken as we grieve the unthinkable loss and profound tragedy that unfolded last week in Newtown, Connecticut. This horrific event is a tipping point and serves as a call to action. The nation's nurses demand that political and community leaders across this country address longstanding societal needs to help curb this endless cycle of senseless violence.

Our country has witnessed unspeakable acts of mass shootings. The common thread in each of these tragedies has been the lethal combination of easy access to guns and inadequate access to mental health services.

As the largest single group of clinical health care professionals, registered nurses witness firsthand the devastation from the injuries sustained from gun violence. We also witness the trauma of individuals, families, and communities impacted by violence.

The care and nurturing of children in their earliest years provides a strong foundation for healthy growth and development as they mature into adulthood. Children, parents, and society face growing challenges with respect to widespread bullying and mental illness, and nurses understand the value of early intervention. Over the past decade, ill-advised and shortsighted cutbacks within schools and community health care systems have seriously impeded critical and needed access to school nurses and mental health professionals trained to recognize and intervene early with those who are at risk for violent behavior.

The public mental health system has sustained a period of devastating cuts over time. These cuts have been exacerbated during the Great Recession despite an increase in the demand for services for all populations, including our nation's veterans. States have cut vital services, such as community and hospital-based psychiatric care, housing, and access to medications. Looming budget cuts could lead to further cuts in services.

It is time to take action. The nation's nurses call on President Obama, Congress, and policymakers at the state and local level to take swift action to address factors that together will help prevent more senseless acts of violence. We call on policymakers to:

  • Restore access to mental health services for individuals and families
  • Increase students' access to nurses and mental health professionals from the elementary school level through college
  • Ban assault weapons and enact other meaningful gun control reforms to protect society

The nation's nurses raise our collective voice to advocate on behalf of all of those who need our care. As a nation, we must commit to ending this cycle of preventable violence, death, and trauma. We must turn our grief into action.

Alabama State Nurses Association

American Academy of Nursing

American Nurses Association

American Psychiatric Nurses Association

ANA-Illinois

ANA-New York

ANA-Michigan/RN-AIM

Arizona Nurses Association

Arkansas Nurses Association

Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

Colorado Nurses Association

Connecticut Nurses' Association

Delaware Nurses Association

Infusion Nurses Society

Louisiana State Nurses Association

Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses

Minnesota Organization of Registered Nurses

Missouri Nurses Association

Montana Nurses Association

National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists

National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses

National Association of School Nurses

National League for Nursing

New Hampshire Nurses' Association

New Jersey State Nurses Association

New Mexico Nurses Association

Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs

Ohio Nurses Association

Oklahoma Nurses Association

Pennsylvania State Nurses Association

Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association

Rhode Island State Nurses Association

Virginia Nurses Association

Washington State Nurses Association

Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society

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Specializes in ER.

HEAR HEAR! Georgia get on board!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Together.....we can be a powerful force.

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How could there have been a shooting in a place clealy labeled a gun free zone? More knee jerk liberal reactions that won't solve anything.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

May I gently remind everyone that nurses are not a monolith, and that these professional organizations do not speak for all of us.

IMHO, if mental health services were available to every person who needs or wants help, regardless of income or social status, there'd be no need for so-called "gun control" (which is really law-abiding citizen control). Just saying.

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Specializes in ICU.

Love this. Think of the Albert Einstein quote- the common thread is limited mental health care, and availability of assault weapons to the general public. Doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. Thanks for sharing this, Karen.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
IMHO, if mental health services were available to every person who needs or wants help, regardless of income or social status, there'd be no need for so-called "gun control" (which is really law-abiding citizen control). Just saying.

This is the basis of the it’s-a-slippery-slope argument, where Fear-Mongers afraid of the government taking all of your weapons away justifies ANY and all weapons being available to normal average citizens no matter how dangerous or how ridiculous!!! Fortunately, you guys (to include the NRA that is only in business to support the GUN MANUFACTURERS and not the Second Amendment, which does not protect the need for assault weapons in the hands of civilians) are not going to get away with pushing this garbage argument this time. Especially not after 20 babies were killed and everyone in this country and around the world was paying attention.

Assault weapons and high capacity clips are not necessary for CIVILIANS of any kind to own. There is not a single civilian that needs access to these things to hunt for sport because they are mass people killers and have no other use!

By the way, not everyone who kills people is mentally ill! So, keeping these weapons out of the hands of mentally ill will not solve the problem of preventing the next mass shooting... This argument just kicks-the-can-down-the-road and distracts from the need to remove access of high capacity clips and assault weapons out of the hands of ALL civilians, just like the NRA and Gun Manufacturers wants.

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Specializes in ICU.

Assault weapons and high capacity clips are not necessary for CIVILIANS of any kind to own. There is not a single civilian that needs access to these things to hunt for sport because they are mass people killers and have no other use!

This.^^

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Specializes in retired LTC.

You can make all the new laws you want, but the same problem will still exist ---- how will you enforce them???

All kinds of laws on the books NOW to prohibit cell phone use and texting while driving, but has it stopped?

Same thing about driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. ETC, etc, etc.

Good intentions, but difficult to realistically enforce to have a real impact.

Criminals are criminals - just when you think you build a better mousetrap (to catch them), along come smarter rats.

I agree though, we do need something!

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You can make all the new laws you want, but the same problem will still exist ---- how will you enforce them???

All kinds of laws on the books NOW to prohibit cell phone use and texting while driving, but has it stopped?

Same thing about driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. ETC, etc, etc.

Good intentions, but difficult to realistically enforce to have a real impact.

Criminals are criminals - just when you think you build a better mousetrap (to catch them), along come smarter rats.

I agree though, we do need something!

This!!!

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My thought is- even if we had laws to ban all guns, there would still be smuggling and those that want, will get them. Just like illegal drugs. There still remains the core issue of mental health and how poor our mental health system is- lack of access, not enough mental health professionals, and beyond poor pay for those few mental health health professionals we do have.

It's amazing- this country always has all this money to pay nonessential space taker upers, people who sit in top offices all day growing fat behinds and making bad decisions, airheads and bimbettes, but no money to pay professionals who actually work in a worthwhile profession.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

I really don't like it when organizations I belong to take detailed stands without consulting their members. The fact is, it's not just access to mental health services that needs improving, it's the commitment of society to protect itself from the mentally ill. Now before you jump all over me:

Two years ago the man down the street from us was repairing his roof. When it got dark he quit and went inside to spend the evening with his wife and son. My own son was friends with the older brother, who had moved into his own place as he and my son were both in their late 20s. The younger son, who I will call Cameron, had a history of mental health problems. He got plenty of care and attention from the mental health professionals and his parents, who were educated and caring people. About 1 a.m. Cameron, who had just quit taking his antipsychotic medicine, realized his parents were actually demons. He picked up his father's hammer and killed him. His mother escaped by hiding behind cars parked in our street. It was Cameron's choice whether to take his medicine and everyone had to live with it. Where is Cameron now? Living in a halfway house in town free to meet and greet you and me. Another case in point: A good friend of my son's was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and received plenty of care and attention from his own educated and caring family as well as many mental health professionals. As long as he took his medicine he realized government agents really weren't after him and led his life. He too decided to quit taking the pills and was arrested after flooding a commercial building which housed some government offices, among other tenants. Caused hundreds of thousands dollars worth of damages. Luckily nobody was hurt. My family and I are average ordinary people and other people could tell similar stories. Neither of these cases involved guns. But we just let the (literal) madness go on and on, pretending that people should be able to choose whether to be psychotic and run riot or not. The violence will not stop until we get serious about what free choice really is.

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