Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to Rep. Kathy Rapp.

I am a Critical Care Registered Nurse from Bucks County. I have been fighting on the front lines of various diseases/illnesses for the past 10 years. As a previous hospital administrator, I know you are keen to the challenges hospitals face from a business perspective.

However, judging by your recent comments regarding the “lack of valid grievances” from nurses about unsafe staffing it is clear that you’re are sinfully unaware of the dire challenges of patient safety.

Safe staffing is a daily problem. These difficulties are not new, it has only been recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. For years, nurses have been begging legislators to help us provide the safest possible care for patients by passing safe staffing laws. It is perplexing as to why this would be a bad idea?

I’ve taken this opportunity to research who your biggest campaign donors are. Not surprisingly, some include United Health Group, Pennsylvanaia Society of Anesthesiologists, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Pennsylvania Orthopedic Society, U.S. Acute Care Solutions and the Hospital and Health System of Pennsylvania top the list. The list goes on. These donors, coupled with your history as a hospital administrator, are the only reasons I could imagine why you would think staffing ratios is a bad idea.

Would you feel the same if your daughters or grandsons were patients at a hospital suffering from short staffing and unsafe ratios? The research is clear: The more patients a nurse takes on, the greater the risk of one of them dying.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that your job is to be a “representative” of your constituents–not just your donors. Your personal beliefs should be left at the door. I am certain that the people who voted you into office would not want to be a patient on a short-staffed assignment. Additionally, I can assure you that their family members would not be okay with their most basic needs not being met. As the chairwoman of the House Health Committee it is your duty to make sure patient safety is held in the highest regard.

Do the right thing Representative Rapp! Allow the Patient Safety Act to be voted out of committee. Everyone needs the care of a nurse at some point in their lives. In fact, your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on it.

Heather Connor,

RN BSN CCRN,

Bensalem