Tuesday, January 03, 2012

National Nurse Act of 2011 Signatory Letter


The following letter is being sent to all members of Congress to enlist their support of The National Nurse Act of 2011. If you would like to be a signatory to this letter, please contact Terri Mills, President of the National Nursing Network Organization, whose contact information is listed below. 
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To The Members of the United States Congress:
We, the undersigned, urge you to support HR 3679 The National Nurse Act of 2011. This legislation would designate the Chief Nurse Officer of the U.S. Public Health Services as the "National Nurse for Public Health" to elevate the authority and visibility of this position. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, and others pose the single greatest threat to the health of Americans and our nation's economy. Nurses provide key services for the prevention and management of these conditions and this legislation is necessary to support further work needed to promote prevention, improve outcomes, and guide national, state and local efforts in addressing the nation's health.
This is the ideal time to make a National Nurse for Public Health a reality. The current administration and Congress have a clear commitment to wellness promotion and illness prevention. There is convincing evidence that the health of our country can be dramatically advanced by deploying our greatest and most trusted national health resource, America's nurses. Establishing a National Nurse for Public Health would be a practical step forward in publicly acknowledging the need for a focus on wellness and prevention. This legislation would provide the nation with a trusted professional representative from nursing to kickoff the move to prevention in whatever form of health-care system our lawmakers deliver.  
The National Nurse for Public Health would provide a visible nurse leader to advocate for enhanced prevention efforts for all communities. Further, we recognize the potential of having the National Nurse for Public Health as a representative who would meet with health care leaders to determine ways to address continued health disparities and poor health literacy.
We, as organizations and individuals, support this legislation as a means to achieve the goals of better health, decreased health disparity and improved health literacy and look forward to working with you on this important issue. We applaud your efforts in highlighting the important contribution of nurses and in your advocacy of improvement of the nation’s health. We strongly urge your support of The National Nurse Act of 2011.
Thank you for your consideration and please call upon us if we can be of further support as this bill moves forward.
Teri Mills MS, RN, CNE
President National Nursing Network Organization
503-320-2385

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