Stand by nurses, the backbone of hospital care

Support nurses around the state as we call for meaningful raises to encourage nurses to stay in or return to the profession. Many of us became nurses because it is a calling. Many of us have left because — as nursing currently stands — we are devalued as humans.

Kara Yates has been a registered nurse for 12 years at Seattle Children’s Hospital and is co-chair of the Washington State Nurses Association at her hospital. She works as a pediatric certified charge nurse caring for patients in the pulmonary and craniofacial unit. Opinions in this Op-Ed are her own.