SEIU Healthcare 1199NW nurse calls for healthcare reform at White House forum

Don Miller, an emergency room nurse and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW member from Swedish Medical Center joined Governors Chris Gregoire and Arnold Schwarzenegger at a regional White House Forum on health care on April 6 in California.

Don told the crowd that he began his nursing career in the Emergency Department, and he’s still working in the Emergency Department at Swedish Medical Center, first hill campus. He spoke about the important issues of funding for mental health, drug/alcohol dependency and homeless programs, and how lack of funding for these programs impacts the country's emergency departments.

“Our emergency rooms have become the dumping grounds for America’s broken healthcare system,” Miller told the crowd. “The crushing costs of our current system, along with the human costs, cannot be ignored any longer. If we’re going to build an economy with lasting strength, we have to bring down healthcare costs and cover everyone."

As unemployment rises, more people are uninsured, and they’re seeking care for problems that should be seen by a doctor’s office. Every day, 14,000 more Americans lose their health insurance. We are at a breaking point in our health care crisis, and health costs are jeopardizing families, hurting businesses and draining state budgets.

Don told the crowd that Emergency Departments should be for critical cases that need emergent care, and these patients detract from us taking care of patients who really need it the most. Patients should be in doctor’s offices for routine care instead of in the ER where it ends up costing ten times more.

Governor Gregoire , Governor Schwarzenegger, and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes hosted the regional White House Forum in California and discussed the need to provide high-quality, affordable health care for all and to curb skyrocketing health care costs that are draining our federal and state budgets, devastating families and small businesses, and undermining our long-term economic prosperity.

The healthcare summit included Democrats, Republicans, insurance companies, business, labor, doctors, nurses, patient advocates, and average citizens on how best to fix our healthcare system so it guarantees quality, affordable care for all Americans.

Read Governor Schwarzenegger's letter to Don Miller.