Tuesday, May 12, is Florence Nightingale Day--and the chance to honor our first nurse with a "revolt of the nurses and doctors" protest against Sen. Max Baucus and the health insurance corporations   who are doing their best to undermine healthcare reform, this time by excluding all mention of single-payer healthcare reforms from the Senate Finance debate over healthcare financing.

We urge all nurses and doctors and patients who are in the Washington D.C. area to join the Florence Nightingale Day protests this Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon right outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 1st St. and Constitution Ave., right near Union Station in Washington, D.C.  (Caregivers, wear your scrubs!)

If you can't make it, you can join in: Fax Max Baucus (and other Congressional Committee chairs) to demand single-payer have a place at the table, and a voice in the debates.

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"Obama...Wants to Steal My Big-Screen TV"

During this incredible election, we have seen the nasty and toxic side of the American character forced to the surface.

It has rarely been worse than the words uttered just this morning at a "Stop Obama" rally perpetuated by one Mark Phillips, a conservative activist and sometime Fox News commentator.

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Nurses from Nevada and around the country  continued rolling through Western Nevada today as part of the "Drive for Healthcare Voters" tour, visiting the small towns of Gardnerville and  Fallon.  The tour is being put on by the National Nurses Organizing Committee, which is America's largest RN union, and is complemented by a campaign including mail pieces, phonebanking, and advertising.  Our goal is to make sure that voters have the information they need to be healthcare voters.

Day 2 of the tour was intense and emotional, as our healthcare outreach led to many conversations with voters about what is going on in their lives.

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The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) today kicked off a national road show and outreach campaign designed to inform voters about the healthcare proposals of both leading Presidential candidates.  5 swing states will be targeted before the election for this healthcare outreach.

As one nurse from St. Mary's Medical Center Reno put it, "Our patients are voters too, and we're here to get them the information they need."

The road show hits 11 different Nevada cities stops this week--everywhere from Reno to Elko to the Shoshone Reservation--with a striking wrapped bus featuring the nurses' report cards on Obama and McCain.  Next week, the bus turns left and heads to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Manchester NH and Bangor ME (along with a visit to healthcare hero Eric Massa, running for Congress in New York.)

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As we go into Denver, here's a look at where we are in the fight for Guaranteed Healthcare, courtesy of America's RN Union--the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee--which is working closely with the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) to unify party support for HR 676, the bill to end our healthcare crisis through an expanded and improved "Medicare for All."

I'll sum it up: among Democrats at least, there now seems to be a common vision of guaranteed healthcare, thanks to progressive influence over the party platform.  

At the same time, the movement has to deal with lobbyist-driven fake reform groups undermining the national desire for genuine reform, and with a healthcare crisis that is worse than ever.  On a national stage, Conyers' bill HR 676 continues to gather support, while Obama repeats that he would support single-payer, if he were starting from scratch.

What do you think about the landscape?  PDA and CNA/NNOC will be in Denver all week advocating for better healthcare--come say hi, or, heck, contact your member of Congress and tell them to get onboard with HR 676!

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