SENATE RESOLUTION

                             8692

By Senators Franklin, Prentice, McAuliffe, Johnson, Rasmussen, Kohl-Welles and Roach

     WHEREAS, Nurses are the backbone of our health care system and critical to the quality of care provided to thousands of Washington residents; and

     WHEREAS, The fifty-thousand nurses in Washington comprise our state=s largest health care profession; and 

     WHEREAS, Nurses provide a vast array of health care services across a broad spectrum of health care settings to meet the different and emerging health care needs of our state=s population;  and 

     WHEREAS, Our state increasingly relies on nurses to deliver primary and preventative health care; and 

     WHEREAS, Professional nursing has been demonstrated to be an indispensable component in the safety and quality of care of hospitalized patients; and 

     WHEREAS, The demand for nursing services will be greater than ever because of the aging of the American population, the continuing expansion of life-sustaining technology, and the explosive growth of home health care services; and

     WHEREAS, More nurses will be needed in the future to meet the increasingly complex needs of health care consumers in this state; and

     WHEREAS, The cost-effective, safe and quality health care services provided by nurses will be an ever more important component of the health care delivery system in the future; and 

     WHEREAS, the week of May 6 - 12 is National Nurses Week 2001 with the theme ANurses are the True Spirit of Caring@;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate ask all Washington residents to join in honoring the nurses who care for all of us; and  

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate encourage the residents of  Washington to celebrate nursing=s accomplishments and efforts to improve our health care system, and show appreciation for the nation=s nurses not just during this week, but at every opportunity throughout the year.

I, Tony M. Cook, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 8692,

adopted by the Senate May 8, 2001.

TONY M. COOK

Secretary of the Senate