Ohio Nurses Association

12/20/2025

✊📰 Journalists Standing Together for Local News

The reporters, photographers, videographers, and digital news producers at The Columbus Dispatch and The Newark Advocate are coming together to form the Dispatch News Guild 💪 to fight for fair pay, better working conditions, and to protect local journalism in Central Ohio.

Under corporate ownership, our newsrooms have faced stagnant wages, layoffs, unfilled positions, and growing workloads, while our communities continue to grow. This puts local news, accountability, and public trust at risk. 🚨

📣 We’re calling on USA Today Co. (Gannett) to voluntarily recognize this new union, and they are collecting signatures from those who back their effort.

✅ Click here https://newsguild.org/ to add your name to the petition in support of the Dispatch News Guild.

🤝 Stand with journalists
🗞️ Stand for strong local news

Together, we can protect jobs and the quality of local coverage our communities deserve.

✨NewsGuild-CWA

12/20/2025

🌍✨ Happy International Human Solidarity Day! 🎉

Today is about more than words; it’s about action, compassion, and standing together. Let’s honor our shared humanity by uplifting one another, embracing our diversity, and committing to a world rooted in care and dignity. 💖

On this day, we especially lift up nurses and health professionals. the caregivers who show up every day with skill, courage, and compassion, often in the face of unsafe conditions, understaffing, and burnout. Solidarity means having their backs: demanding safe workplaces, fair treatment, and respect for the vital role they play in our communities.

When we care for those who care for us, we build stronger, healthier communities for everyone. 🤝 Here’s to solidarity, compassion, and a brighter future in healthcare.

12/19/2025

🩺💙 Ohio Nurses Association Endorses Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate 🇺🇸

“Ohioans deserve access to affordable, high-quality care and a better life for all,” said ONA President & Executive Director Rick Lucas, BSN, RN, CCRN. “Senator Sherrod Brown has consistently stood with nurses and health professionals fighting for safe workplaces, fair wages, and the public investment needed to ensure every community can get the care it deserves. That’s why the Ohio Nurses Association is proud to endorse him for the United States Senate.”

From protecting patients to backing frontline workers, Sherrod Brown shows up for Ohio’s nurses—because when nurses win, patients win. 🏥

🗳️ Join us in supporting a proven champion for healthcare, workers, and communities across Ohio.

💙✊

12/19/2025

🎉🎄 Happy National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day! 🎄✨

🎁 Happy Holidays! May this season bring you rest, joy, and good health, and may the New Year strengthen our solidarity as we continue to stand together. ✊❤️ — Rick Lucas, ONA President & Executive Director, and the ONA Board of Directors.

Let’s deck the halls with our most cringe-worthy knits, sip some hot cocoa ☕, and spread plenty of cheer! May your days be merry and bright and filled with laughter, love, and a little festive flair.

12/19/2025

🩺 ONA Members: Help Shape Nursing Policy in Ohio 🩺

The Ohio Board of Nursing is currently accepting applications through January 5, 2026, for several advisory groups. This is an important opportunity for ONA nurses and health professionals to bring frontline experience into decision-making spaces.

These advisory groups help guide policies and standards that directly affect practice, education, workforce development, and patient care. It is critical that these conversations are led by professionals who understand the realities of bedside care and community health. For more information about the advisory groups, click https://ow.ly/aSGF50XLCoJ

📣 OBN is soliciting applicants for the following Advisory Groups:
🔹 Certified Community Health Workers Advisory Group
🔹 Dialysis Advisory Group
🔹 Nursing Education Advisory Group

➡️ Apply using the General Advisory Group Application
🔹 Doula Advisory Group
➡️ Apply using the Doula Advisory Group Application

📅 Application deadline: January 5, 2026
⏳ Two-year terms begin January 1, 2026
💻 Many meetings are held virtually, increasing accessibility for working professionals
📝 Application must include a current resume with submission

ONA strongly encourages members, especially bedside nurses, educators, and community-based health professionals, to apply. When ONA members serve in advisory roles, policies are stronger, more practical, and more reflective of real-world care.

Let’s make sure nurses and health professionals are not just impacted by policy but helping lead it.

12/18/2025

🚨 ONA Speaks Out for Nurses & Patients 🚨
“Just coming out of the pandemic where we were told that we were essential, that we were heroes, and now to see the administration make a decision that doesn’t even recognize us as professionals is incredibly insulting,” said Rick Lucas, BSN, RN, CCRN, ONA President & Executive Director.

📊 A 2024 ONA survey shows Ohio doesn’t have a true nurse shortage, but unsafe staffing and poor working conditions are driving nurses away from the bedside. With an aging workforce, new loan limits only create more barriers for future nurses and threaten patient care across our communities.

🏛️ ONA is urging Ohio lawmakers to step in and do the right thing.
“We’re going to keep fighting back on this because we have to be there for our communities,” Lucas said.

✊ Nurses are professionals. Patient care depends on it.

Megan Romero is a senior nursing student at the University of Cincinnati and hopes to eventually pursue advanced practice as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA).

12/17/2025

Thank you to the Cuyahoga County Executive and County Council President for standing with Metro Behavioral Health nurses and health professionals and for your clear support of safe workplaces.

Your leadership sends an important message: healing cannot happen when caregivers are being assaulted on the job.

Now MetroHealth executives must act. Nurses and health professionals have raised serious safety concerns and deserve real protections—not delays or excuses.

Negotiate in good faith. Now.
Workplace violence is not part of the job.
Cuyahoga County

12/17/2025

Thank you, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, for standing with Metro Behavioral Health nurses and health professionals. Healing cannot happen when caregivers are being assaulted on the job.

MetroHealth must act. Nurses and health professionals have spoken up about unsafe conditions—and they deserve real protections now, not excuses later.

The solution is clear: come to the table and negotiate in good faith. NOW.

Workplace violence is not part of the job.

12/16/2025

"🌟 Ready to take your nursing dreams to new heights in 2026? The Ohio Nurses Foundation is cheering you on!

This holiday season, invest in you by applying for a 2026 ONF Scholarship. Your passion, hard work, and dedication deserve every opportunity to grow. 🌱💫

⏰ Deadline: January 15, 2026
🔗 Apply now: https://ow.ly/orcN50XmMSj

Winners will be honored at the Nurses Choice Awards this spring! 🏆💙

12/15/2025

🎅🎄 Holiday cheer was in full swing in Akron!
PSNA proudly co-hosted a festive Santa Party over the weekend with our friends at USW Local 2L 🎁✨

Kids and adults alike had a wonderful time celebrating the season, sharing smiles, and making memories. ❤️ Special thanks to ONA Board member Deborah Baker Lloyd for helping spread the joy and community spirit! 🌟🤝

🎅🎄🎁

12/15/2025

🚨 Nurses are speaking out, and they deserve to be heard. 🚨

The Ohio Nurses Association is calling on MetroHealth System to agree to a fair contract with newly unionized staff that includes real workplace protections, starting with safe staffing. 🏥💙

🗣️ “Nurses are asking for the ability to do their jobs without being physically assaulted, without being placed in dangerous situations, and without being forced to manage patient mixes that are unsafe.”

Jeff Bettinger, RN, VP of Local, also raised serious concerns about placing patients with histories of violence or sexually aggressive behavior in units alongside patients who are not violent, creating daily safety risks for both patients and staff. ⚠️

💪 Workplace violence is NOT part of the job.
✊ Safe nurses = safe patients.
📣 It’s time for MetroHealth to do the right thing.

Leaders from the labor union that represents nurses at MetroHealth's Behavioral Health Hospital told county leaders safety changes are urgently needed due to an increase in violence at their facility and nationwide.

12/15/2025

Congratulations to Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans on his swearing-in. The honorable Rob Dorans has consistently demonstrated that his priorities are aligned with the needs of working people and the communities they serve.

ONA looks forward to continuing to work with President Pro Tem Dorans to advance policies that strengthen workers, protect public services, and build a healthier, more equitable Columbus.