WARREN, Pa. – Nurses and their supporters held a march to, and rally outside of State Rep. Kathy Rapp’s office in Warren on Saturday.
Their aim is to convince Rapp to move the Patient Safety Act (HB 106) out of committee and onto the house floor for a vote.
The bill would create minimum staffing standards for nurses in hospitals. The bill is currently before the House Health Committee, which Rapp chairs, and Rapp has refused to advance the bill out of committee.
“She (Rapp) has ignored the calls, the emails, the letters, and the pleas from nurses on this issue and has chosen instead to do the work of hospital lobbyists and not call a hearing on our bill,” said Eileen Kelly, a retired nurse from Warren. “This is not the first time we have asked Kathy Rapp to hear us, and since then we have lost so many lives. And that’s why we’re here today . . . mourning.”
See the full rally here:
Near the end of the rally, those in attendance staged a “die-in” representing, organizers said, all the lives lost while the legislation remains in limbo.
The “die-in” brought a counter-protestor of sorts as a man assumed Saturday’s rally was for abortion rights. Some heated words were exchanged before the man eventually left the area.
See the full altercation here:
Rapp said in January that she hadn’t heard “a real grievance” when it comes to unsafe staffing in hospitals. She doubled down in March with a mailer that said the bill would lead to the closure of health care facilities “due to excessive DOH micro-management and arbitrary, unpredictable, fine-driven bankruptcy.”
“Despite our advocacy efforts, Rep. Rapp said she hasn’t heard a real grievance from nurses about safe staffing,” Kelly said. “I know this isn’t true because many of us visited her in her office, discussing our grievances personally with her. Rep. Rapp is representing the hospital association, and (not) her constituents, by blocking this legislation.”
One of Rapp’s primary arguments against the bill is that it would “terminate local control” when it comes to staffing decisions.
“Deceptively labeled as the Patient Safety Act, House Bill 106 would impose California-style, one-size-fits-all medical staffing ratios,” Rapp’s mailer said. “The last thing hospital administrators and nursing supervisors need are more out-of-touch government mandates. As Majority Chair of the House Health Committee, I cannot in good conscience support the advancement of House Bill 106, or any other restrictive medical staffing mandate that would inevitably deny or region access to affordable, high-quality patient care.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 500,000 seasoned nurses were expected to retire between November 2021 and the end of 2022, creating a shortage of 1.1 million nurses. More than 30 percent of nursing school graduates leave the profession by the end of their second year due to burnout, according to data from nursing agency IntelyCare.
“We know that Kathy Rapp, as the House Health Committee chairperson, has the power to give us a hearing, or the power to bring this bill up for a vote. Yet she is the one legislator who is preventing us from saving the lives of thousands,” Kelly said. “Today, we are fighting for our patients and our community members. And the future of our profession.”