President Obama Addresses ANA House of Delegates
The American Nurses Association was proud to welcome President Barack Obama as a guest speaker to its biennial House of Delegates. He spoke to an estimated crowd of more than 1,000 nurses and guests during the opening session.
“Nurses are the beating heart of our health care system,” the president commented. “It is because you know the system so well that you have become such fierce advocates for reform,” he noted as he thanked the nurses and the ANA for their staunch support during the health care debate. He remarked on ANA’s long commitment to health care reform, singling out Jo Eleanor Elliott of Colorado for her strong leadership; she was president of ANA when it became the first health care organization to support the creation of Medicare.
The president recognized the need for more nurses and cited his administration for making “the largest investment in nursing and health care workforce in history.” The president also revealed a series of investments in the health care workforce, just announced by the Department of Health and Human Services. This new funding will serve to encourage registered nurses to attend school full time to become nurse practitioners. Additionally, the funds establish nurse-managed health clinics to increase access to care and assist in the training of nurse practitioners as primary care providers.
As he finished his remarks, the president reiterated the remarkable dedication of nurses and expressed his administration’s goal to “elevate and value the work that you do,” adding “our mission must be to live up to the values that you uphold every day.”
ANA Department of Communications
