COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nurses across Ohio are calling for change they say will help their own well-being and the well-being of their patients. A few dozen nurses and supporters rallied outside the statehouse Wednesday.
They support a bill they say would help increase their numbers and relieve their job stress as a nursing shortage affects hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities in Ohio and across the nation.
Their message was "understaffing equals a patient care crisis." They say there aren't enough nurses, and the stress and overwork are forcing many to leave the profession.
The father of one nurse says, for his daughter, the stress of the job and depression became too much to bear.
"It's difficult. I was the one who found her," Ron Smith said.
Ron Smith's daughter Tristin Smith died by suicide last August at the age of 28. She was an emergency room nurse at a hospital in the Dayton area. He says the stress of her job affected her mental health and he had tried to talk her into quitting nursing.
"I told her, I said Tristan if you are crying before you're going to work because you don't know what kind of night you're going to have, if you're physically getting sick before you go into work, we need a different career here," Ron Smith said.
Now Ron is advocating for change. He shared Tristin's story at the Nurses and Health Care Professionals Rally at the Statehouse.
Ohio Nurses Association President Rick Lucas says they support bipartisan House Bill 285. It would mandate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals and create a loan-to-grant program to recruit more nurses.
"For years hospitals have been understaffed leading to overburdened health care workers that are leaving the profession, leaving the bedside in droves," Lucas said.
A study in early 2023 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found around 100,000 nurses nationwide have left the profession since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Elgin Rogers (D - Toledo), says it is about retaining and recruiting nurses, but also about the patients.
"We want to make sure that patients have the staffing ratios so the nurses can take care of our loved ones," Rogers said.
Co-sponsor, Representative Haraz Ghanbari (R - Perrysburg), says the Ohio Hospital Association acknowledged to him the challenges with nurse staffing, but the association believes hospitals need more flexibility with their own ratios.
"What they've shared with me is this is an issue they've been working on for some years, and my response is, it hasn't gotten us to where we need to be right now."
While his heart aches over the loss of his daughter, Ron says he'll pour his energy into the cause.
"My role right now is to support this bill and get this bill passed."
10TV Reached out to the Ohio Hospital Association. A spokesperson sent the following statement.
"Ohio Hospital Association is opposed to HB 285 and the impact it would have on hospitals ability to provide care. Ohio hospitals are committed to safe staffing to ensure quality care and optimal patient experience is delivered to patients. Per Ohio law, Ohio hospitals develop nursing service staffing plans by organizing internal committees of caregivers, including nurses, to make recommendations for staffing levels that provide both a safe working environment for employees and quality health care for patients. Hospitals and health systems continue to work together to build healthy practice environments, advance patient safety, affordability and enhance value by transforming health care delivery. Mandated approaches to nurse staffing limit innovation, reduce the flexibility needed to respond to patients' changing care needs and increase stress on a health care system already facing an escalating workforce shortage."
The association spokesperson also pointed out there are more than 24,000 job listings for nurses on the Ohio Means Jobs website.
The co-sponsors of House Bill 285 expect the bill to have its first hearing in the near future.