Advocate Illinois Masonic Nurses engage Springfield lawmakers

Nurses from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center descended on the State Capitol in Springfield today to engage legislators on issues affecting health care and the nursing profession.

More than 80 direct care nurses from across the Advocate system – including six from Advocate Illinois Masonic – met with dozens of state legislators, including Senate President John Cullerton, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and local legislators as part of Advocate’s annual Nurse Advocacy Day.

Participating nurses rallied support to maintain Medicaid funding levels, raise the legal age of purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and pass the Nurse Licensure Compact—legislation that would allow nurses licensed in Illinois to practice in other compact states, including Wisconsin.

“Nurse Advocacy Day is a critical opportunity to engage with our elected officials and reinforce our position on key health care issues that impact the patients we are privileged to serve every day,” says Ken Laube, chief nursing officer at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. “Who better than our frontline nurses to deliver that message? They are the key to advancing our mission to bring transformational health care to our communities.”

Nurse Advocacy Day is hosted by Advocate’s Nurse Advocacy Council (NAC), a self-governed council composed of frontline nurses that works to educate and empower the largest nursing audience in Illinois: Advocate's more than 11,000 professional nurses. Advocate is the only known health care provider in the state to provide frontline nurses with this opportunity, thus giving them a stronger voice on legislative issues in Springfield and Washington D.C.

This is the group’s 13th year going to Springfield.

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About Advocate Health Care

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is a 397-bed non-profit teaching hospital located in the Lake View neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. The medical center has a Level I Trauma Center and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the highest designations awarded by the state of Illinois, and offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care, including cardiovascular, oncology, digestive health and neurosciences services. A recipient of numerous awards for quality and clinical excellence, Advocate Illinois Masonic has achieved Magnet designation for excellence in nursing services from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The medical center has also been named a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality by the Human Rights Campaign's Healthcare Equality Index. Advocate Illinois Masonic is part of Advocate Health Care, the largest fully integrated health system in Illinois. For more information, visit www.advocatehealth.com/masonic.