Rep. John Keenan Makes First Floor Speech, Calls for
BOSTON – Representative John Keenan (D-Salem) made his first floor speech in the House of Representatives this afternoon. Disappointed by Governor Romney’s veto of nearly $1 million in funding for the nursing program at Salem State College, Representative Keenan took the podium and urged his colleagues to override the harmful veto. Following Representative Keenan’s speech, the House voted 152-0 to restore all of the funding. A copy of Representative Keenan’s first floor speech follows. Remarks on the SSC Second Degree Nursing Program Override
Thank you, Mister Speaker, and through you to the members. And thank you to all of my colleagues who have helped this freshman learn the ropes these past few months. I rise today to make my maiden speech in support of an override of the Governor’s veto of $915,900 for the Salem State College second degree nursing program. I am proud to make my first speech on an issue of such importance to this Commonwealth. I thank the gentleman from Lowell, the Chairman of the Committee on Higher Education for his support on this matter. I thank the many colleagues who signed onto our letter requesting an override of this veto. And I thank you, Mister Speaker, and the Chairman of Ways & Means for bringing this issue to the floor. Imagine all the additional good that Mass General might be able to accomplish with three hundred more nurses. Or Beth Israel Deaconess. Or Brigham and Women’s. Or Mount Auburn. Or any of the over 175 hospital facilities in our Commonwealth. I ask this because last year, the nursing program at Salem State College turned away over 300 applicants. They were turned away not because they did not meet the criteria for admission. They were turned away because Salem State simply did not have the capacity – did not have the public resources – to take them in. Three hundred applicants – all of them fully capable and eager to become nurses – turned away because this Commonwealth could not find a place for their energy. Mr. Speaker, we have the chance today to change that. We are fortunate: Massachusetts is one of the great health
care centers of the world. We recognized this fact with the recent passage
of legislation in support of stem cell research. This shortage hurts our economy. This shortage hurts patients, as our depleted nursing workforce is stretched thin caring for more patients than they can give adequate time to – doing their best in often difficult working conditions and faced with forced overtime to meet the ever-growing demand. The nursing shortage is very real – and it will become worse if we do not act. The need for nurses is expected to grow by almost thirty percent over the next fifteen years. State-wide, the nursing vacancy rate is currently 6.5 percent. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, our Commonwealth has 5,000 fewer nurses that it needs. In five years, that number could climb to over 9,000. Salem State College’s nursing program has graduated nearly thirty-four hundred nurses over the last three decades. But we are still struggling to keep up with the shortage and the demand for more numbers of qualified, properly trained nurses. It is sadly ironic that in the same city where Salem State College is forced to turn away qualified nursing school applicants the North Shore Medical Center must look to Guatemala and other countries for nurses to staff Salem Hospital. It is sadly ironic and it is not right. These are good jobs at good wages that should not be outsourced from our Commonwealth. There is something else very important to be said about the graduates of our public higher ed institutions. We know that over eighty percent of our state college students will remain here after graduation. They will make their home in Massachusetts and work in Massachusetts. That means that the nurses who graduate from Salem State are going to Fall River, not Florida; they are going to Worcester, not West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, if we do not take this action, all of our communities will suffer. Because these students are from cities and town all across our Commonwealth. These hospitals are in cities and towns all across our Commonwealth. And, most important of all, their future patients are in cities and towns all across our Commonwealth. Some of these patients and graduates are also in our armed services, on the front lines in the war on terror. Salem State nursing graduates – like Navy Lieutenant Commander Peter Charest, Army Staff Sergeant Melissa Onuscheck, and Army Colonel Kathy Fabiszewski – are today tending to our wounded soldiers in Iraq. They are a testament to the bravery of our men and women in uniform and the exceptional quality of the Salem State College nursing program. Some of you have asked me what it is exactly that makes this program so unique. This is an accelerated program that trains registered nurses who are already credentialed at the baccalaureate level. These highly trained nurses are more than sufficiently prepared to face the increasingly complex demands of today’s health care environment. Working in collaboration with the North Shore Medical Center, this program will help reduce the nursing shortage across the Commonwealth. The accelerated format of the program is designed for individuals returning to college for a second career in Nursing. After just eighteen months, these students are prepared to sit for the Nursing Licensure Exam and to enter the work force. The cost of educating these students is less than traditional nursing education programs because students enter with existing Bachelor degrees. It is truly a remarkable, innovative, and above all, essential program. Mister Speaker, fellow Representatives. I understand full well the pressures and demands placed on these important individuals in the healthcare workforce. The more we stretch our nurses, the more Massachusetts patients and families will feel the squeeze. Therefore, I urge you: support Salem State College. Support our caregivers. Support an override of the veto of funding for the Salem State College second degree nursing program. Thank you, Mister Speaker.
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