To FENA Members

Hello! My name is Sharon Reuter and I am the state government affairs co-chair for the Florida Emergency Nurses Association.

One of the missions of ENA is to advocate with government officials at all levels to promote issues which are important to emergency nurses. I would like to be able to communicate with the government affairs chair of every chapter in Florida, as well as all ENA members who also have an interest, so that we can establish an advocacy base for our state which can be utilized as needed to address local, state and national issues important to us.

For example, one issue important to ENA members is injury prevention. I just received a chilling statistic last week! According to the National Safety Council, "at least 28% of all traffic crashes are caused by drivers who are using cell phones or texting while behind the wheel, which is 1.6 million accidents per year." In addition, "the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute suggests texting and driving is the most dangerous combination. The institute's studies show drivers may increase their risk of a crash or near-crash event by more than 23 times when they are texting and driving." http://www.nsc.org/safety_road/Distracted_Driving/Pages/distracted_driving.aspx
http://news.nurse.com/article/20100816/NATIONAL01/108160001/-1/frontpage

In the last session of the Florida legislature there was a bill addressing texting while driving which had wide support and a good chance of passing. It was held up in committee by the chairman of the committee who did not favor the bill. This might be something that FENA would wish to address in the next legislative session. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/hope-for-texting-while-driving-law-fades/1090516

If you would be willing to receive messages regarding ENA government affairs, please respond to this letter with your email address and forward this letter to anyone in your chapter you think might also like to be involved. Participation can be as much or little as you are able. Most advocacy is done by letters or e-mail and between the national ENA and our state organization you don't even have to compose your own letter!!

I would also like to send the government affairs chairs a bi-monthly summary of current issues important to ENA members which could be utilized for their chapter report if they wish. In addition, I am hoping that some of you will have your own ideas on how we can proceed with advocating for our issues.