After review of your Manifesto, it strikes me that you and many of your colleagues may interested in knowing more about HR1119, a legislative effort being led by a small grassroots group of nurses.  Please see the attached Press Release from Rep. Anthony Weiner’s office regarding HR1119 The National Nurse Act of 2011. This legislation is promoted by the National Nursing Network Organization and hundreds of nurses across all specialty practice areas. Our NNNO President is an RN, PHN and certified Nurse Educator who has taught nursing for nearly 30  years at an Oregon community college, and many of our Board members are current or retired nursing faculty.  Please feel free to share this email with your NursingManifest colleagues.

HR1119 is a fairly simple piece of legislation. It seeks to have the existing CNO of the USPHS elevated to a more prominent, publicly-visible role and be uniquely referred to as the National Nurse. Our supporters believe this position will help guide our nation as we begin the much needed shift toward a culture of prevention.  The vision for this initiative began with a small grassroots group of nurses who realized the potential for having willing nurses in every community take a more active role in prevention efforts. They believe that having a prominent National Nurse positioned to lead activities, and building on the trust the public has for nurses, will yield tremendous potential for this nation’s large nursing workforce (including students and active retirees)  to have significant impact on local health promotion activity.

This bill is non partisan and cost efficient and has potential to yield significant return on investment by ultimately increasing behaviors that will reduce chronic disease. Previous concerns of some nursing leaders about having a National Nurse have been addressed in the new bill language, which amended the title of the position to be The National Nurse for Public Health. This change clarifies that  the focus will be on a public health advocacy role, making it less likely to sound competitive for nursing leadership at the national level. Hopefully this new language in the current bill will be embraced by most prominent nursing organizations and will see them support having a National Nurse for Public Health.

Please review the attached press release. We would appreciate any suggestions you have to promote awareness of this important legislation. We hope you can encourage your nurse colleagues to visit the website www.nationalnurse.org, and read our blog and join us on Facebook. They will learn more about HR1119 and we hope they will contact their Representatives to support this initiative.

Thank you.

Susan Sullivan, MSN PHN RN

Secretary, National Nursing Network Organization