We've been hearing a lot of buzz around the country about the Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) "Which Side Are You On" Pledge -- and last week in Portland I witnessed Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley sign on to those common sense guides to fix our broken healthcare system. Jeff, whose wife Mary is a nurse, is challenging incumbent Gordon Smith for his seat in the U.S. Senate, with the hope of joining Sen. Ron Wyden in representing Oregon caregivers and consumers in the next Congress. Thanks to Greg from Oregonians for Health Security, who snapped pix for posterity.

Three RNs from Healthcare United, including Chapter Coordinator Mara Kieval, RN, tracked Jeff down at his campaign headquarters, talked to him about what ails the healthcare system from their bedside points of view, told him about the HCAN! coalition and presented the pledge--which he signed.

While I was in Portland, representing the Western Region of HCU (which includes Colorado , Montana , New Mexico , Washington and Iowa), I went to a meeting of the Oregon HCAN! coalition. At the meeting, Mara took responsibility for getting Merkley on the pledge and invited the other HCAN! partners to bring everybody to the HCU-GOTV Mobilization in Salem on October 18th. (We hope to see you there!)

In the evenings, I had the pleasure of attending volunteer phonebanks in Salem and Portland, talking to other healthcare professionals about the issues and the candidates. I love doing that in every state - I always learn something new about the challenges that healthcare workers experience every day to give their patients the best possible care, and about the common sense, compassionate solutions that caregivers understand better than politicians do.

 

I'm very excited about the dedication of the volunteer caregivers who are part of the Oregon Chapter of HCU. I encourage all Oregon healthcare workers, who want to be part of the solution, to give Mara a call at 503-360-3252, and get involved.