FEDERAL:
Save Migrant Children From COVID-19:
[From the Action Network] Today, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) - a group within the Department of Health & Human Services - holds some 3,600 unaccompanied children in largely for-profit shelters. They sleep, eat, school, and move together through the facilities, escorted everywhere by company workers. They have to ask permission to do anything. They are virtual prisoners.
Just like in prisons, the COVID-19 pandemic poses an immediate and life-threatening danger to all of these children who live in congregant care and who are unable to social distance or wash their hands frequently. Once the disease hits a shelter, it will spread rapidly, overwhelming already scant medical capacity. Many children have died in government custody. More stand to perish from COVID-19. There is no plan to protect them. Children must be reunited with their families immediately. Innocent children are being incarcerated in conditions that put their lives at risk. You can use the link below to email or my script to call your reps.
Link:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-migrant-children-from-covid-19?delivery_id=43549077
Script:
Hello, I am a constituent calling from ____________ to urge Rep./Sen. ______________ to call for migrant detainees to be released from border camps to avoid creating a massive health crisis. The CDC has warned that people who live, work, eat, study, and recreate within congregant environments are at a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19. And we have seen this clearly with mass infections and multiple deaths in nursing homes and on ships. Once the virus hits a closed environment, it spreads like wildfire. There is no cure for this deadly disease. The threat to immigrant children confined in shelters is dire. Please step up and demand that the migrant detainees be released.
Federal Contact Numbers:
Thom Tillis: DC: (202) 224-6342
Richard Burr DC: (202) 224-3154
Tim Scott (SC): Washington, DC: 202-224-6121
Lindsey Graham (SC): Washington, DC: 202-224-5972
House: https://www.house.gov/representatives/
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STATE:
Allow Nurse Practitioners to Practice without a Collaborating MD:
I’m going to tweak our action on the SAVE Act just a little. Instead of a general call, let’s focus our attention on the chairs of two NC House committees, the House Standing Health Committee and the House Select Committee on COVID-19. Because these committees are chaired entirely by Republicans, it’s important to promote the SAVE Act as an inexpensive measure that will save lives in the near term. There might also be some value in pointing to long-term cost savings, as well. There is bipartisan support for the bill (the conservative John Locke Foundation supports it), so we could make a genuine difference here.
Nurse practitioners are not allowed to maintain their own practice in North Carolina without registering with a collaborating physician. This places severe limits on NPs who are board certified. In most states, this rule has been eliminated. And during a time in which we are facing a medical emergency, we need more qualified medical providers to be able to practice without archaic limitations. This is actually a nonpartisan issue. The link below is from a conservative think tank, but it shows clearly that we need to update our laws regarding NPs. The bill is called the SAVE Act, and it is a simple, potentially bipartisan fix, that could improve our response to COVID-19.
Details:
https://www.johnlocke.org/update/save-act-increasing-freedom-for-n-c-nurses/
Script:
Hello, I am writing to urge Rep. ___________ to support the SAVE Act. This bill would remove the requirement that nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives have a collaborative practice agreement to treat patients. North Carolina is one of 12 states that restrict the practice authority of nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives unless they obtain a collaborative practice agreement with a supervising physician. And in a time when we face an approaching medical crisis, we need all of the qualified medical providers to be able to work independently without any archaic restrictions. NPs could easily volunteer in remote locations or other areas where supervising physicians would be unavailable. Thank you.
Email contacts:
House Standing Health Committee Chairs:
Josh Dobson: Josh.Dobson@ncleg.net
Donny Lambeth: Donny.Lambeth@ncleg.net
Larry Potts: Larry.Potts@ncleg.net
Donna White: Donna.White@ncleg.net
House Select Committee on COVID-19:
Tim Moore: Tim.Moore@ncleg.net
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REGISTER TO VOTE:
Register to Vote Online:
The State Board of Elections has opened up online voter registration. You can follow the link below to their website where you can register to vote or change your registration if you have moved. You can also follow the tweet below to thank the SBOE and maybe gently nudge them to allow statewide vote-by-mail for the 2020 election.
Details:
https://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/offices-services/online/Pages/voter-registration-application.aspx
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