Meeting the Honorable Lois Capps and Jeremy Sharp

Over the next several days, I hope to give you an idea of some of the meetings we attended during the National Nurse Team's visit to WA DC.

We spent Tuesday visiting members of the House of Representatives, including the three nurses in Congress. All were aware of the call for a National Nurse and were familiar with my NY Times op/ed, America's Nurse, published on May 20, 2005.

Representative Lois Capps, pictured with this post, is a nurse and an avid supporter of nurses. She leads the Nursing Congressional Caucus. We will be working closely with her health policy aide, Jeremy Sharp as we continue our quest for a National Nurse.

Representative Capps, it turns out has many ties to Portland, Oregon. Her sister even graduated from Portland Community College's Nursing Program where I teach.

In turn, my niece, Lisa, who attends UC Santa Barbara, voted for the Congresswoman during the last election. It was truly an honor to be so well received and exciting that Jeremy Sharp also spent a great deal of his time with us.

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(from left) Terri Polick, RN, Roxanne Fulcher, AACC Health Policy Specialist,
Representative Lois Capps (D-CA), Pat Carroll, RN, Teri Mills, RN