Earlier Patti shared an article for nursing home management to pay attention:
Keeping Unions Out: It’s Now or Never

The article she linked to implores management to take action to become more employee-friendly. There are some issues that management might not be able to change. Health insurance for staff is a BIG issue. Affordable and practical insurance is needed.

SEIU’s Andy Stern is calling on US to help him advocate for this important need. He will be testifying before Congress and will be sharing worker stories about health insurance, the lack of or inability to afford.

When I think about what’s wrong with health care, I think of Jacqueline.

It’s one thing to talk about our broken health care system, but Jacqueline lives it every day. For 19 years, she’s worked as a nursing home CNA in Wisconsin. Short staffing in her unit means skipped treatments and longer waits for her patients. And a lack of equipment and supplies puts the strain on the entire facility when things get busy.

Unbelievably, while Jacqueline spends her life providing care for her patients, she can’t afford it for herself or her family. The coverage her employer offers costs too much on her salary.

This has to stop. Congress needs to hear how this crisis is affecting real people. Share your story: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/memberstories

Next week, I’m going to Capitol Hill for a Senate roundtable on fixing health care. It’s one of three roundtables that Senator Max Baucus is holding to hammer out the final details of a health reform bill.

If you’ve got a story to tell, now is the time to do it. Do you have health insurance? If not, why not? Does your employer offer it? Is it too expensive for you to afford? Have you held back on seeing a doctor or other health care needs due to costs? Let Andy know.