Statement on the Connecticut Shooting

December 2012

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) is shocked and saddened by the senseless shooting in an elementary school this morning that left 26 people dead, including 20 young children.

Our heart goes out to the families of those lost today, and those who survived who will suffer from the memory of today. They will be in our thoughts.

Also in our thoughts is nurse Maureen Kerins, a Newton, Connecticut nurse who learned of the shootings and went to help. When she arrived at the scene, a police officer told her they didn’t need any nurses. Unfortunately, all of us at UNAC/UHCP are as familiar as Ms. Kerins is with what that truly means.

We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in America. As nurses and health care professionals who work in the hospitals on the front lines, we see the impact of gun violence. We implore our leaders to have a long overdue conversation about how to protect public safety in light of what is now a long history of mass shooting massacres. We owe it to the young children who lost their lives today to be certain that they did not die in vain. And that means enacting common sense gun control measures that significantly reduce the number of gun deaths in America.

Ken Deitz, RN
President, UNAC/UHCP