Ohio Nurses Association

10/30/2025

💙 Ohio Nurses Take a Stand for Safe Staffing! 💙

The Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) proudly applauds the introduction of two bills that take direct aim at Ohio’s hospital staffing crisis — HB 521: The Ohio Nurse Workforce & Safe Patient Act, and HB 535: The Nurse Staffing Committee Reform Bill.

✅HB 521, sponsored by Reps. Crystal Lett and Christine Cockley, sets statewide, evidence-based, safe minimum staffing standards; protects whistleblowers, and invests $20 million in nursing education to strengthen the workforce.
➡️ https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/136/hb521

✅ HB 535, sponsored by Rep. Brian Lorenz, ensures at least 51% of hospital staffing committees are direct-care nurses, giving bedside nurses real authority in staffing decisions and creating transparency through public reporting.
➡️ https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/136/HB535

“These bills represent the answer to the question we hear every day from nurses, patients, and families — what can be done about chronic understaffing in hospitals? The answer is accountability, transparency, and putting nurses in control of patient safety decisions,” said Rick Lucas, RN, ONA President.

Together, these reforms protect patients, empower nurses, and ensure that safe staffing always comes before profit or politics.

Press Release ➡️https://ohnurses.org/wp-content/uploads/HB-521_HB-535-Press-Release.pdf

10/30/2025

💪🎉 We’re still reeling with excitement from last week’s 2025 ONA Convention: It’s Better in a Union! ✊🩺

What an incredible gathering of dedicated nurses and health professionals, all coming together to help shape the future of healthcare in Ohio. ❤️🏥

Thank you to everyone who showed up, spoke up, and stood strong for our profession and our patients. Together, we are union strong! 💙🤝

🎉🩺💪

10/29/2025

🎂 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! 🎉 If your special day is coming up, it’s the perfect time to celebrate in style with an Ohio Nurses Foundation's “SUPPORT NURSING” license plate! 🎁

Every plate helps fund scholarships through the Ohio Nurses Foundation 📚. Your birthday present can make a real difference for future nurses! 🙌

👉 Grab yours here: https://ow.ly/SgQk50QwRHB (Choose Organizational Plates ➡️ Ohio Nurses Association). Questions? Reach out to mdonovan@ohnurses.org.

10/28/2025

🎉 Congratulations to ONA’s Newly Elected Leaders! 🎉

We’re proud to announce the Ohio Nurses Association’s Officers, Board of Directors, and Delegates for the 2025–2027 biennium!

🩺 Officers
President: Rick Lucas
Vice President: Jacinta Tucker
Secretary-Treasurer: Barbara McGhee

👥 Board of Directors
Janet Corbin | Sarah Foraker | Kylee Ham
Catharyne Henderson | Lukas Killian | Justine Lieberum
Sarabeth Murray | Lyndsey White-Dye | Sherri Funk
Michelle Croker | Deborah Angel Baker Loyd | Alex Watts

🌍 AFT Delegates
January Belcher | Marie Cinalli | Amy Pompeii
Bret Apple II | Sarah Foraker | Greg Goodman
Kylee Ham | Catharyne Henderson | Brian Kelly
Lukas Killian | Justine Lieberum | Rick Lucas
Barbara McGhee | Tony Myers | Jacinta Tucker
Alex Watts | Kelly R. Lee | Kezia Franklin
Kalantra Croom | Sherri Funk | Deborah Angel Baker Loyd
Michelle Croker | Debra Meredith | Emily Kraft

💪 Ohio AFL-CIO Delegates
January Belcher | Marie Cinalli | Janet Corbin
Sarah Foraker | Christine Furbee | Kylee Ham
Catharyne Henderson | Lukas Killian | Justine Lieberum
Rick Lucas | Barbara McGhee | Amy Pompeii
Jacinta Tucker | Alex Watts | Kezia Franklin
Kalantra Croom | Sherri Funk | Deborah Angel Baker Loyd
Michelle Croker | Rebecca Anderson | Charles Boak
Danielle Frazee | Debra Meredith | Stefanie Baumann

💙 These incredible leaders will guide ONA into the next biennium—fighting for safe staffing, safe workplaces, respect, and the professional and economic well-being of every nurse, health professional, and patient in Ohio.

-CIO Ohio AFL-CIO AFT Nurses & Health Professionals AFT

10/28/2025

🚨💙 Happy National First Responders Day! 💙

Today, we honor the incredible people who are first on the scene: EMTs, paramedics, firefighters, police, nurses, and all those who run toward emergencies when others run away. 🩺🚑🔥

Your courage, quick thinking, and compassion save lives every single day. 💪❤️

To our nurses and health professionals, thank you for being part of the team that keeps our communities safe, strong, and cared for.

💙🚑

10/28/2025

Hospital CEOs say we’re all in the same boat. 🚫 Well, we’re not.

They’re on yachts purchased with patient care dollars 🛥️, while we’re bailing water out of a sinking ship to keep patients safe and cared for.

🏥 Nurses and health professionals deserve safe staffing, fair pay, and respect because patients’ lives and dignity depend on it. 💙✊

10/26/2025

🚨 Workplace violence in healthcare far too often results in serious, even career-ending, physical and emotional injuries.

What other employer would allow their employees to be
❌ Choked
❌ Stabbed
❌ Targeted with weaponized bodily fluids
❌ Thrown against walls
…without penalty⁉️

Too many health professionals have suffered fractures, brain injuries, PTSD, and even death. Let’s continue working together 🤜🤛 to fill the gaping holes in hospital workplace safety policies. Join us and the movement! https://ohnurses.org/membership/

Join the Ohio Nurses Association and gain access to union protection, CE opportunities, policy advocacy, and more. Empowering nurses statewide since 1904.

10/25/2025

🌟💖 Happy National I Care About You Day! 💖🌟 To all our nurses and health professionals, today is a reminder that your care matters, and so do you. 💌✨

Every day, you pour your heart into helping others, often while carrying invisible weight. Burnout, stress, and emotional fatigue are real, but so is our community of care. 💕

Let’s take a moment to check in on one another. A kind word, a text, or a simple “How are you really doing?” can make a world of difference. 🤝

📱 Need support? Call or text 988 to connect with the Su***de & Crisis Lifeline, which is free, confidential, and available 24/7.

🔗 Find more help through the AFT Trauma Counseling Programs & Services: aft.org/benefits/.

Your strength, compassion, and resilience keep healthcare moving forward, but remember it’s okay to rest, to reach out, and to take care of yourself, too. 💖

10/24/2025

✨ The 2025 ONA Convention was a huge success! 🎉 Here are some commemorating and unforgettable moments from the House of Delegates 🗳️, the CE Poster Presentation Review Hall, the Ohio Nurses Foundation Silent Auction 💙, and the invaluable ADO presentation. 🎤👏.

Also, a very special shoutout to our sponsors and exhibitors! 🤗

We honored and remembered nurses and health professionals who are no longer with us at the beautiful Nightingale Remembrance table 🕯️🌹. But especially to our ONA Board of Director, Rhonda Love.

🩺💪✨

10/24/2025

Hunger because you forgot or were too busy is different from hunger because you don’t have food, or the money to buy it, or the support you were promised.

On November 1, SNAP benefits end for thousands of Ohio families — including low-wage healthcare workers who care for our patients and communities every day. Many work full time but still don’t make a living wage, and now the basic support that keeps food on the table is being taken away.

While executives and billionaires buy yachts and mansions, the people we care for — and the people who care for them — can’t get food. Let that sink in.

We stand with the support staff who support patient care, the patients we care for, and the communities we serve. No one who dedicates their life to caring for others should have to go hungry — and no one in America should feel the pain of going hungry. 💙



https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-snap-2025?source=facebook&

No one should go hungry in the United States. We need our lawmakers to speak up for constituents and tell the Trump administration to do its job and help families put food on the table. Tell your lawmakers to protect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)!

10/23/2025

💪🎉 What a “riveting” night at the 2025 ONA Convention Member Party!

We work hard and we play hard! This year’s theme, “It’s Better in a Union: Rosie the Riveter,” was a total hit! ❤️ Members rocked their red handkerchiefs, struck their best Rosie poses 💥, and celebrated union pride in style.

Fun, laughter, and solidarity filled the room, because it’s always better in a union! ✊✨

10/23/2025

💪 It’s Better in a Union.

For nurses and health professionals in Ohio, that union is the ONA — built by us, for us. 💙

On behalf of ONA President Rick Lucas:

Thank you to the elected delegates and ONA Board of Directors for making the 2025 ONA Convention a success!

From hearing from our AFT national leaders, President Randi Weingarten and Executive Vice-President Evelyn DeJesus, to adopting resolutions addressing major issues like workplace violence, moral injury, safe staffing, and just culture,
to hearing from the family of Tristin Kate Smith — it was a powerful reminder of why we do the work we do. 💪

👩‍⚕️ Our patients are the reason we fight.
👨‍👩‍👧 Our families are the reason we fight.
🏥 Our communities — and ourselves — because we’re all worth it. ❤️

From the convention floor to the Statehouse, we’re building power and solidarity — meeting with legislators Brian Lorenz, Christine Cockley, and Crystal Lett, who are championing our safe staffing bills and standing up for patient safety across Ohio. 🏛️

Now more than ever, we need every member involved and every voice raised. Because when we stand together — we win together. ✊🔥