ANA Pleased with the CARES Act

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Shannon McClendon

301-628-5391
shannon.mcclendon@ana.org

Keziah Proctor

301-628-5197
keziah.proctor@ana.org

SILVER SPRING, MD – President Donald Trump today signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a more than $2 trillion economic relief package for the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. This legislation will provide states $1.5 billion to bolster public health efforts and $16 billion for the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to deploy critical supplies respectively. The following statement is attributable to American Nurses Association (ANA) President Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN:

“The American Nurses Association is pleased about the passage of the CARES Act. We appreciate the Administration and state and federal organizations for their attention to sustaining our nation’s nursing workforce. The funds provided through CARES will assist with critical state-level efforts to identify COVID-19 cases earlier, trace new cases, and strengthen overall public health efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in communities. ANA is especially thankful that CARES allocates funds to leverage the Strategic National Stockpile. We need this action to direct personal protection equipment (PPE), life-saving treatments, and other essential medical supplies to nurses and health care teams responding to the coronavirus. CARES is a much-needed next step. In addition, we still urge the Administration to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to expand production of ventilators, masks, and other medical supplies.

Since the beginning of this public health crisis and now pandemic, ANA has been aggressively pushing Congress and the Administration to do something about the lack of PPE. ANA has proposed industry incentivizes to ramp up production of N95 respirators in addition to recommendations for developing creative nurse staffing strategies and using telehealth technologies to preserve PPE.

Now, and more than ever before, we must protect and support nurses because we will not be able to persevere in stopping this pandemic without them. The Ebola, SARS, H1N1 outbreaks and the HIV/AIDS epidemic offer indisputable proof that nurses are reliable responders who can tackle any public health crisis. What nurses need in return is clear communication, sustainable plans and access to the highest level of protection to safeguard themselves and the public.

ANA continues to stand with nurses who are on the frontlines the coronavirus pandemic.”

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