(from left) Joy Jirousek, Eureka nurse; Sherri Pearson, BroMenn nurse; Lynn Hutley, Advocate Public Affairs; Janna Cluskey, BroMenn nurse; Sen. Jason Barickman; Christy Burkey, BroMenn nurse; Crystal Bricker, BroMenn nurse; KaSandra Hoelscher, BroMenn nurse; Nancy Allen, Eureka chief nurse executive. (Photo courtesy of Advocate Healthcare)

Nurses from Advocate Eureka Hospital and Advocate BroMenn Medical Center descended on the State Capitol in Springfield on April 24 to engage legislators on issues affecting health care and the nursing profession.

More than 80 direct care nurses from across the Advocate system – including Eureka Hospital’s Chief Nurse Executive Nancy Allen and Operating Room Charge Nurse Joy Jirousek – met with dozens of state legislators, including Senate President John Cullerton, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, Senators Jason Barickman and Bill Brady, and Representatives Tom Bennett, Keith Sommer, Dan Brady and Chapin Rose as part of Advocate’s annual Nurse Advocacy Day.

Participating nurses rallied support to maintain Medicaid funding levels, raise the legal age of purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, and pass the Nurse Licensure Compact—legislation that would allow nurses licensed in Illinois to practice in other compact states, including Wisconsin.

Nurse Advocacy Day is hosted by Advocate’s Nurse Advocacy Council (NAC), a self-governed council composed of frontline nurses that works to educate and empower the largest nursing audience in Illinois: Advocate’s more than 11,000 professional nurses.

Advocate is the only known health care provider in the state to provide frontline nurses with this opportunity.   This is the group’s 13^th year going to Springfield.

— Advocate nurses meet with lawmakers on Medicaid funding —-