Statement from Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, President, Massachusetts Nurses Association on U.S. Senate Debate

BOSTON, Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nurses and Health Care Professionals have seen firsthand how the economy has affected our patients, friends and family through the loss of jobs, their homes and their retirement savings. Tonight, we had the opportunity to see for ourselves the stark difference between the two candidates for United States Senate and who will fight for us in Washington. While Elizabeth Warren will stand up for the citizens of Massachusetts, Scott Brown will continue to say that he's for us when his voting record tells a far different story. Instead of voting to help those of us standing at the gas pump, he is voting to support the oil companies; instead of voting to protect health services for women, he is voting to allow employers to deny those life saving benefits; and instead of voting to bring money back to Massachusetts, Scott Brown is voting against continuing federal funding that has been a safety net for patients and the community hospitals that care for them.

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What we heard from Elizabeth tonight is that she will fight for all of us, all of the time, from the family struggling to purchase home heating oil, to the woman who needs comprehensive health services and the patient whose life is saved because his community hospital was kept open with the help of federal funding.  As Elizabeth said, Washington is stacked against the average American and is rigged for the big guys. Elizabeth Warren will be our voice in the U.S. Senate and will level the playing field for those of us working every day on Main Street.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.  The MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association