January, 15 2016, 11:15am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lucia Hwang 510-872-8338 or Sarah Cecile, 239-292-0227
Nurses Converge in Nevada To Canvass for Bernie Sanders
The Most Trusted Profession Tells Nevada Voters, "We Trust Bernie!"
WASHINGTON
This weekend, registered nurses from across the country will join Nevada nurses in Las Vegas to canvass for Bernie Sanders, National Nurses United (NNU) announced today.
"Nurses deal with the impact of social issues every day, at the bedside. Our patients are getting lost. They come to the Emergency Room as a last ditch effort, because they don't have healthcare, and by that time, their illness can be so advanced that there is no hope for them. All because they couldn't afford preventative care. Bernie believes in Medicare for all. He stands for us, and we are excited to tell voters why we stand with Bernie," said Darrella McGuire, RN, a Labor and Delivery nurse at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno.
Around 160 RNs from as far away as Florida and Texas say they are taking time to canvass in Vegas, both to connect with voters around the issues--and to show that working people can come together to invoke change.
"The nurses who are coming out this weekend are a testament to the fact that Bernie Sanders has the support to be elected. From healthcare for all and free public college education, to environmental and racial justice--people are really excited about what he stands for," said Deborah Hernandez, RN, of Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston, Texas. "If the most trusted profession is out here knocking on doors, to talk to people about why we trust Bernie, well--that should say something!"
What: Nurses Canvass for Bernie Sanders
Where: Gather at MGM Grand 8:30--9 a.m. each morning, board busses
10 a.m.--1 p.m. and 2 p.m.--4 p.m. canvas in Las Vegas-area neighborhoods
Media invited to morning gathering and/or to ride along on canvassing
When: January 16, 17, 18
National Nurses United is the largest union of nurses in the country, with 186,000 members in 50 states--and was the first national union to endorse Sanders, in August, 2015.
"It is Bernie Sanders who has made expanding health care to everyone through Medicare for all, which is also the best way to solve the crisis of medical debt, a centerpiece of his campaign. All while Hillary Clinton has abandoned the goal of healthcare for all," said RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director of NNU.
"Bernie is the also the most viable candidate who is not only fighting for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but has sponsored legislation to do so. He was the first major candidate to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest trade deal which will harm U.S. workers," DeMoro said. "All of these issues are critical to public health--and to that end, important to nurses, who are the ones at the bedside, caring for the public."
"I'm excited to talk to people about Bernie Sanders this weekend," says McGuire. "In fact, this is the first campaign that I've ever been really excited about. I just feel that Bernie is the only candidate right now who is thinking about the common people. This country is due for a shake up--getting money out of politics, taxing Wall Street, funding education, having better security for veterans--and I really believe Bernie Sanders is the one who will be able to do it."
National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
While Israel argues that its invasion of Syria does not violate a 1974 armistice agreement between the two countries because the Assad dynasty no longer rules the neighboring nation, Dujarric said Guterres maintains that Israel must uphold its obligations under the deal, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the cease-fire and stability in Golan."
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
"Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she continued. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the healthcare to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
The organization has also filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court "for war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists," according to the roundup, which includes stats from January 1 through December 1.
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When counting the number of journalists killed by the Israeli army since October 2023 in both Gaza and Lebanon, the tally comes to 155—"an unprecedented massacre," according to the roundup.
Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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