WSNA speaks at Health Care is a Human Right rally in Olympia 

The Health Care is a Human Right coalition held a rally in at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia April 2 to oppose any cuts to healthcare and safety net programs.

Edna Cortez, the chair of WSNA’s Labor Executive Council and a registered nurse at Seattle Children’s, shared her bedside experience of how inadequate access to healthcare impacts a person’s health and well-being. She also highlighted how the goal of the mergers and acquisitions bill (HB 1881) was to provide oversight on big hospital system consolidations. The bill did not move forward this legislative session.

Other speakers at the rally included Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer, Rep Natasha Hill (D-Spokane), Executive Director of the American Indian Health Commission of Washington Vicki Lowe, Deputy Director of the Somali Health Board Mohamed Shidane, and others.