Contact: Ann Kettering Sincox
Staff Writer/Editor
Michigan Nurses Association
517/349-5640, ext. 42 (office)
517/256-2312 (cel
ann.sincox@minurses.org
or
Chris De Witt / Granholm Campaign
517/485-5100 (office)
517/881-4784 (cell)
August 17, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Michigan Nurses Support Granholm
for Governor
Governor Has Right Plan to Keep
Michigan’s People—and Economy--Healthy
LANSING – The Michigan Nurses Association
(MNA) today announced their endorsement of Governor
Jennifer Granholm’s campaign for re-election.
“Governor Granholm is a strong advocate for
nurses and health care professionals in Michigan,”
said Tom Bissonnette, RN, MNA Executive Director.
“By appointing Jeanette Klemczak, RN, BSN,
MSN, as the state’s first Chief Nurse Executive
and investing in teaching programs for health care
professionals across the state, she has focused
like a laser on the nurse shortage in Michigan.”
As part of Granholm’s MI Opportunity Partnership,
which educates workers to fill vacancies in growing
industries, the state awarded more than $17 million
in grants to accelerate teaching at universities
and community colleges for nurses and other health
care professionals. The grants will prepare more
than 1,200 health professionals – including
registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, clinical
nurse faculty, and allied health professionals –
to help meet the demand for high-skilled health
care workers. Granholm also appointed Jeanette Klemczak
as Michigan’s first Chief Nurse Executive
to help find solutions to the nurse shortage and
meet the health care needs of Michigan patients.
“We have a nurse shortage in Michigan,”
Granholm said. “The investment I am making
in education for nurses is not only improving our
health care system, but it is also providing Michigan
residents with good-paying jobs that will stay in
Michigan. Just the other day I spoke with a woman
who had lost her job, and with the help of our education
program, she was back in school, studying to be
a nurse.”
MNA and the Governor share a common concern. “As
nurses, we see every day the struggles people face
to pay for health care coverage,” Cheryl Johnson,
RN, MNA President, said. “Governor Granholm’s
Michigan First Healthcare Plan will offer access
to affordable private market insurance plans and
subsidize care for those who can least afford it.”
The Governor is committed to ensuring that all
citizens have universal access to affordable health
care plans. In the last three years, she has expanded
health care and prescription coverage to more than
298,000 of Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens,
including restoring health care coverage to more
than 40,000 people who lost their coverage under
Governor Engler. Granholm’s MiRx discount
card is helping thousands of families purchase affordable
prescriptions.
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The Michigan Nurses Association,
nurses' voice for 100 years, is the largest nurses'
union in the State of Michigan . The Michigan Nurses
Association (MNA) promotes the economic and general
welfare of nurses in the workplace, fosters high
standards of nursing practice, and lobbies the legislature
and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting
nurses and recipients of nursing services. MNA is
a constituent member of the American Nurses Association
and the United American Nurses, as well as an affiliate
of the AFL-CIO.
