{"id":99665,"date":"2021-02-10T09:55:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T17:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=99665"},"modified":"2021-02-19T13:19:37","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T21:19:37","slug":"op-ed-nurses-applaud-bill-to-protect-frontline-nurses-other-healthcare-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/02\/10\/op-ed-nurses-applaud-bill-to-protect-frontline-nurses-other-healthcare-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Nurses applaud bill to protect frontline nurses, other healthcare workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses United<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In response to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, California Nurses Association (CNA) is pleased to cosponsor S.B. 213 (Cortese) to protect California\u2019s frontline nurses and other health care workers by providing presumptive eligibility for workers\u2019 compensation.<\/p>\n

California is one of many states that have laws that grant some public safety employees, such as police officers and firefighters, \u201cpresumptive eligibility\u201d for workers\u2019 compensation. However, nurses have no such protections at all, even though, by the nature of their work, they suffer some of the highest risks of injury and illness of any profession. This bill would correct this unfair treatment.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by CNA and recently introduced by Senator Dave Cortese, S.B. 213 will ensure that nurses and other health care workers have presumptive eligibility for workers\u2019 compensation if they are injured on the job or fall ill to Covid-19 or any other communicable disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur nurses are at the forefront of our state\u2019s efforts to combat Covid-19, putting their own health at risk every day of this pandemic to provide life-saving treatment and care.\u201d said Senator Dave Cortese. \u201cThese frontline heroes deserve adequate and equal protections to ensure their own safety and the safety of all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresumptive eligibility\u201d for workers\u2019 compensation, means that if the employee sustains certain injuries or becomes infected with certain diseases such as Covid-19, the injury or illness is presumed to be job related and makes him or her automatically eligible for workers\u2019 compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation presumptions exist for certain first responder professions, such as firefighters, because they are inevitably exposed to dozens of potential illnesses as a condition of their work; many of which lead to health issues such as infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, and cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNurses across the country still do not have the protections they need during this pandemic, which is why it\u2019s so critical that they are automatically eligible for workers\u2019 comp for Covid-19,\u201d said Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of CNA\/National Nurses United (NNU). \u201cNurses are testing positive and contracting Covid-19. Some nurses have been told they contracted their Covid-19 infection in the community and that they should use their sick or vacation time. That is outrageous, especially given the highly contagious nature of the virus that causes Covid-19. Nurses on the front lines of this crisis deserve presumptive eligibility now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Feb. 8, 2021, there are 89,507 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases of nurses and health care workers, and 32 fatalities among nurses in California.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/span>: The California Nurses Association\/National Nurses United is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 170,000 RNs nationwide.<\/em><\/h6>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the California Nurses Association\/National Nurses United In response to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, California Nurses Association (CNA) is pleased to cosponsor S.B. 213 (Cortese) to protect California\u2019s frontline nurses and other health care workers by providing presumptive eligibility for workers\u2019 compensation. California is one of many states that have laws that grant some public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":98065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1480],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}