America's RN Union Highlights: Who Might Be One Heartbeat Away - Provocative New Ad to Run in Six Swing States During This Week of the Vice Presidential Debate
The nation's largest union of registered nurses this morning unveiled a striking new television ad that calls attention to one of the most significant, and least talked about, issues in the current election campaign – the possible presidency of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
One Heartbeat Away, sponsored by the 85,000-member National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, begins a run this morning in six battleground states – Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri.
Fostered by the growing concern among healthcare professionals over the health status of Sen. John McCain, the ad also provides a reminder of some of the controversial moments of Palin's record as governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
The timing of the ad coincides with a report Tuesday from Bragg Associates, an actuary firm, that John McCain would have a 1 in 4 chance of dying in office from natural causes, which would lead to Palin completing his term.
Concurrently, NNOC/CNA leaders called on Sen. McCain, who has a history of skin cancer, to release his full medical records.
Earlier this year McCain permitted a select group of reporters just a few hours to review more than 1,100 pages of records, but not make copies, falling far short of the full disclosure that all major candidates to the presidency should provide, said NNOC/CNA today.
"As nurses who see patients like Sen. McCain every day, we respect his wishes for medical privacy but his reluctance to make his records fully available only raises further questions and concerns about his ability to fulfill the obligations of the office he seeks," NNOC/CNA co-president Malinda Markowitz, RN said.
"As an oncology nurse, I'm very concerned about John McCain's history of melanoma," added CNA/NNOC Secretary Jan Rodolfo, an oncology RN at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif. "Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer and leads to 75 percent of all deaths from skin cancer."
Similar concerns have been voiced by a number of physicians across the U.S. in recent days.
One Heartbeat Away was produced by Bill Hillsman and North Woods Advertising.
Representing 80,000 RNs in 50 states, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is the largest and fastest-growing association of direct-care RNs in the nation. Learn more at www.calnurses.org.
| 
