“St. Francis Nurses Stand Up & Fight Corporate Healthcare” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We welcome Connie Smith, president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals and Jamie Lucas, executive director, to discuss Ascension’s profit-maximizing closure of St. Francis Hospital’s Labor and Delivery unit, creating a new healthcare desert for women and their families on Milwaukee’s south side. We discuss the economic forces driving Ascension’s decision, and the leverage public mobilization and protest, and elected officials willing to speak out, can create to back them down.
We also evaluated the effectiveness of Democrats in the recent Congressional “Lame Duck” session; Was it irresponsible to not deal with the debt limit through reconciliation and other filibuster proof progressive priorities or did Democratic leaders do the best that was possible with a bad hand? We talk about a new article Robert wrote for Barn Raiser debriefing Wisconsin’s 2022 election. Robert urges us to spend less time on punditry and more on deeper conversations with voters. We look ahead to the huge opportunity the 2023 Supreme Court Election for us to talk to more voters and win.
Listen to the show.
Contact Milwaukee Mayor Chevy Johnson in support of reversing Ascension’s scheme to close the Labor and Delivery unit at St. Francis. Call the mayor’s office: 414-286-2200.
RSVP for Citizen Action’s 2023 Supreme Court Candidate Forum, 6pm.
Donate to Citizen Action’s 2023 Supreme Court Action Fund to support paid “deep canvass” voter contact program.
Volunteer to talk to voters in the 2023 Supreme Court election.
Show Links:
- The Lesson from the Wisconsin Midterm Elections: Face to Face Makes a Difference.
- Democrats Frittered Away the Lame-Duck Session.
- Congress rolls out $1.7 trillion spending deal in race to Friday deadline.
- House Leadership Delays Social Security Expansion While Crafting Tax Breaks for Rich Retirees.
- Wall Street Wins Again on Retirement Savings.
- Ascension St. Francis Hospital to close labor and delivery unit, the only one on Milwaukee’s south side.
- Milwaukee hospital’s plan to close labor and delivery unit comes under fire.
