Nurses rally against proposed budget cuts
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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Nurses from across the state rally at the Capitol to protest $1 million in cuts to health care in the proposed executive state budget.
Hospitals, nursing homes and public health programs are facing drastic cuts. Officials say these cuts have the potential to severely limit access to care and endanger patient safety.
NYS Nurses Association President Karen Ballard said, "If you don't have the nurses there to deliver quality care, then mistakes will happen. Patients who need to have an intervention done are gonna have to wait for it, so they'll get more complications, they get more complications, they stay in the hospital longer. And the state will ultimately pay more for the care of residents of this state."
The current proposal also cuts funding by nearly $150,000 to programs to expand SUNY nursing education, which some say diminishes the universities system's ability to meet the needs of the nursing workforce over the next decade.