Keep nurses debate healthy
With the hyper-contentious political climate roiling Washington, D.C., we must endeavor to do better here in the Bay State as the November elections approach. Unfortunately, as the Herald’s Alexi Cohan reports, there have already been some incidents when it comes to Question 1 signage.
Question 1, which proposes mandated limits on the number of patients assigned to registered nurses in Massachusetts hospitals, has voters and the medical community divided.
The Coalition to Protect Patient Safety is leading the opposition to Question 1 and it has printed and distributed signs across Massachusetts urging residents to vote “No on 1” at the election. According to spokesman Dan Cence, there have been issues with signage across the commonwealth. “We have reports from around the state of people having their signs vandalized,” Cence said. “When stuff like this happens, we just try to replace them.”
Cence indicated that the campaign has seen the loss of “hundreds” of signs. Some people use social media to “brag” about throwing away campaign signs. “This campaign is different given the influence of social media,” Cence said.
The “Yes on 1” folks have also had signs stolen or vandalized. According to Kate Norton, spokeswoman for the Committee to Ensure Safe Patient Care, “This is not a new or unique occurrence unfortunately, and in fact it has happened right outside our campaign headquarters, where ‘Yes on 1’ signs have been removed and replaced with ‘No on 1’ signs on multiple occasions. We do hear from our supporters regularly about stolen and vandalized signs, and when an incident arises, we replace the sign and instruct folks to contact their municipal officials to make a complaint.”
There is a level-headed way to look at Question 1 without making it a referendum on the left or the right. All of the information is on the secretary of state’s website. Regardless of where we fall on the issue of nurses, we must have some agreement when it comes to the issue of civility. Vandalism and harassment are lazy and destructive replacements for healthy conversations and robust debates.
It is our responsibility to resist the attempts by political forces, partisans and special interests to rile us up and divide us over every race and referendum question on the ballot. Let us be our best selves as we close in on Election Day, less than a month away.