Nurses play many roles
National Nurses Week begins on May 6 and concludes on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing.
Nurses practice in a variety of settings including hospitals, offices, clinics, rehabilitation and long-term care, home health, hospice, schools, correctional facilities and the military. We are clinicians, educators, researchers, consultants and leaders. We render and coordinate care, educate, advise and attend to the psychosocial needs of patients and families.
Nurses comprise the largest segment of the health care workforce. The Maine State Board of Nursing lists approximately 23,000 licensed nurses, including just over 1,700 advanced practice nurses — nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical specialists and nurse anesthetists. Our job market is expected to grow by 16 percent through 2024, as there is greater emphasis on preventive care, as baby boomers age and as access to care expands. Nursing faculty at Maine’s colleges and universities prepare graduates at the associate, baccalaureate and master’s degree levels. Last year, the University of Southern Maine awarded the first doctoral level nursing degrees in our state.
Our profession is remarkably satisfying and rewarding. In a recent Gallup poll measuring the public’s perception of professional honesty and ethics, nurses again topped the list. It is a significant honor to retain the public trust. We practice the art and science of nursing as we care for people across the age continuum in all states of health. We touch lives, and those lives touch us.
Patricia Boston, RN
President
American Nurses Association — Maine
Biddeford
Everyone deserves health care
I am responding to David Smith’s May 4 BDN letter to the editor about health care not being a right.
I am a retired general surgeon and have spent many hours covering a busy emergency room. Smith’s last statement, “Who you choose to serve is a right, not an obligation.” Believe me, I have felt that way many times in the middle of the night responding to surgical emergencies and hearing patients demanding care.
But I think that Medicare for all is the right path for us Americans to follow. I have seen and felt the heart-wrenching stories of those who could not afford health care, and even those with inadequate private insurances who slice and dice what health care is available.
Perhaps Smith should read Dr. John Geyman’s recent book, “The Human Face of Obamacare.”
William Babson Jr., M.D.
Sinclair
Drug use has consequences
Dan Cassidy, who has contributed to Sen. Geoff Gratwick’s campaign, in an April 27 BDN letter to the editor about Gov. Paul LePage introducing me as a candidate for the Maine Senate District 9, challenged the governor and me on the Narcan issue.
If I had been in the Senate, I would have advised LePage to support the Narcan bill, but with additional provisions. That is, any individual who requires Narcan treatment, due to an overdose of street drugs, should be charged with the crime of possession of illegal drugs. Of course, no charges for accidental overdosing. Any bail or sentence would mandate treatment, including medication-assisted treatment, to prevent another overdose and help save the person’s life. I fully support education, treatment, intervention, drug court and the multiple steps that would enable rural health centers to provide medication-assisted treatment, and to reduce the effects of having three methadone clinics in the Queen City.
The governor’s point is that Narcan use should have consequences and society must demand individual responsibility, rather than making excuses or blaming others for one’s own bad behavior. I also support faith-based addiction treatment.
What Cassidy should be more concerned about is that Gratwick has failed to disclose the amount his medical practice receives from Medicaid, while voting to expand Medicaid.
N. Laurence Willey Jr.
Bangor