Washington, D.C. – Nurse members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, from around the country will descend on Capitol Hill on Friday, May 5, 2017, to meet with their legislators and demand safe nurse to patient ratio legislation aimed at protecting nurses, patients and their families.

The nurses, represented by the OPEIU Nurses Council (ONC), will also participate in the Nurses Take DC Rally for Safe Nurse to Patient Ratios, joining an anticipated 10,000 nurses from around the country who are gathering to raise public awareness of the dangers posed by unsafe nurse staffing levels in hospitals and medical clinics. ONC Vice Chair Julie Murray, RN, is among the scheduled speakers.

“Nurses are on the front lines of patient safety, and yet they are increasingly being asked to do more with less resources,” said ONC Chair Paige Yates. “Often, hospital administration and corporate CEOs don’t listen to their concerns and patients’ lives are put at risk, not to mention the safety and health of the nursing professionals themselves.

“Legislation for national nurse to patient ratios has been stalled by big money and associations that care less about nurses and their patients and more about profits. That’s why OPEIU nurses will be there on Friday, to demand our legislators listen to the largest healthcare workforce in the United States – nurses – and mandate safe nurse to patient ratios in their states,” Yates continued. “Our elected officials have to understand that it’s their health, their families and their constituents that we’re fighting to protect.”