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Brittany Brewer Brilliant letter. I worked in a hospital for 22 years. I know many nurses who work really, really hard. It takes a very special person to experience all of that and go back day after day. Wish U much luck in your life.

When I had my surgery the nurses were to nice if I can say that, they checked on me constantly, even telling me you never beep for anything please let me get you something. So sweet.

I would like to thank Sen. Maureen Walsh for her terminal case of verbal diarrhea. The outpouring of love and appreciation for these overworked and underpaid guardians of life is long overdue. I'm quite sure if any of them had wanted to play cards at work they would have gone into politics instead.

She has obviously never been hospitalized because every nurse I have ever met has been the most caring and helpful person. I hope she never needs hospitalized because if I were a nurse I would play cards instead of help her I know nurses wouldn't do that but it would be tempting.

I was director of admissions and social services in a health care facility and I promise I never saw nurses playing games. They have so many people to please and receive little positive comments. Just isn't right.

She needs to go work a shift or 2 and see what game they are playing 🤬😡 pray you never need a nurse Maureen! My mom was an awesome nurse!

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!! All the nurses I know work long hard hours. Bless them. They help save lives and make patients feel so comfortable.

I have relatives and friends who are nurses and they don't just sit around all day!!! I have so much respect for all nurses. Thank you,for all you do.

I’ve worked in healthcare for many years in several facilities. I very seldom saw the nurses sitting around doing nothing. They have a lot of responsibilities. If they’re not on the floor, they’re swamped with paperwork. That goes for CNA’s as well. They work very hard and have a lot of stress put on them.

Most work 12 hour shifts..the wonderful nurses who cared for my daughter before she died were amazing with her as well as my family. This woman should be drummed out of office for this remark

Sorry I worked in a rural hospital the nurses were cross trained to do all jobs. Don't remember anyone sitting around.

The nitwit needs to spend a shift in a hospital shadowing a nurse. Bless her little heart. She is truly special.

Ignorant statement...I have worked in the healthcare field for 20 years and must say nurses are the most caring selfless individuals who will save your life, hold your hand, comfort your family or just listen to you...bet those same nurses would care for you even though you made such a reckless uneducated statement...

Says a person who relies on those same nurses tax dollars to pay her wages and support her high and mighty life style. She better hope she never needs a nurse. I'm sure they won't forget her.

I hope she doesn't have to stay in a hospital soon.... Nurse call light might be "broken" that day. 😐

Nurses are staffed based on the siae of the facility and case load. Over my 75 years i have seen large and small facilities and observed the nurses are universally OVERWORKED AND UNDERSTAFFED!

Wow i worked in nursing for years in small rural towns, never did get in on the card game.

My son was born weighing only 14 ounces... he turns 10 years old next month.... I know for a fact it’s because of his nurses that gave him constant care!! No time for cards for a NICU Nurse!!😡

She doesn't know what a nurse does anymore than she knows what a really hard Day's work is like. I'd like to see her follow a nurse around for a 12 hour shift. Sometimes no breaks, holding your urine for hours and sometimes no meal breaks.

Meanwhile in Seattle, the city pays 86k a year per homeless person. How much is a nurses salary in WA and how many hours a day do they put into their job. Irony is those nurses probably spend most of their shift treating those same homeless!

Hopefully she doesn't get hospitalized for whatever reason or else she will know first hand how hard nurses are hooked to card games 🤣

Wtf are u talking about, nurses are angles from heaven, care givers to people they don’t even know or love and still wipe their butts and give them the best care ever, Yep, go home and know that your loved ones are in the best care and sleep tight 🤫

An open letter to Senator Maureen Walsh: (please share) Dear Senator, I am writing you in regards to your most recent comments about the nursing profession. You see, I am not here to bash you or to say mean comments to you about what you said. I am here to tell you that you are correct. You see, I have taken breaks. I have taken many breaks. Although, I am not sure they are the breaks you are referring to in your comments. Sometimes in those little hospitals you referred to, I sat down and took a break. I took a break in between patients. Usually I was charting while I was sitting, but yes, to many nurses that 10 minutes of sitting is their only break. I can tell you some other times I've taken a break. There was the time I looked at a mother and told her that her son took his last shot of heroin. The significant other of a fresh postpartum Mom that she is alive and going to the ICU but we are unsure after an hour of CPR how much brain function is intact. The countless times I told a mother that her sons gunshot wound was fatal. The children that wept while getting the news of a parents death. The longest breaks happened after the bone chilling screams of a mother that just lost a newborn to SIDS. You're right, those are times I stepped away. Maybe walked outside. Sometimes went to my car and wept. I had to get back quickly though, a sweet old lady has chest pain and needs me, or a child that is terrified of getting a shot needs a distraction. The biggest break I've ever taken though, that was after I almost died at work. When a psych patient broke out the windows and was shooting glass shards at my head like darts, all while swearing to me that he was going to kill me that day. After that, they gave me two days off of work. There are too many times to remember. Some of them are still with me, they will never leave. Some of them I don't want to. Like the time a sweet woman with debilitating COPD asked me when I was in the room alone with her to help her tell her kind, caring, and loving family that she didn't want to fight any more. You see senator, the reason the profession of Nursing has been voted the most trusted profession many many years in a row is because people look at us as the gate keepers. The people they trust with their deepest darkest secrets. The people that are there in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping. The people they trust to help them tell their family they are ready to die. We are the ones holding your hand in your final moments when you children step out to use the restroom. Sometimes, after these difficult moments in my career, I walk away. I take a deep breath and I remind myself why I can go from wiping someone after using a bedpan to pressing on the chest of a child, to wiping vomit off the face of a 20 year old overdose so their parents don't see that face in their minds forever. While the most disturbing part of your rant was your attitude and your ignorance about something you clearly know NOTHING about, I forgive you. You see Senator, I can't hold grudges in my profession. I have to hold everyone in the same category, no matter if they are a cold blooded murderer, and innocent child, or a snotty senator with a chip on her shoulder. I promise you, Ms. Walsh, I will care for you when you need me. I will do my very best to not let you realize I haven't sat down in HOURS. I will get you a ginger ale or wipe your backside when you cant wipe it yourself. I forgive you for your ignorance. Perhaps, this is the reason that your profession hasn't been held to the high standard that mine has. Sincerely, Brittany Sullivan, RN (and in 10 weeks BSN- I would put all of my certifications after my name as well, but I don't want to confuse you)

Hard to believe anyone would say that crap in public. She must never have been in the hospital. I hope the nurses forgive her before she needs them. lol

Why should not all nurses get breaks no matter where they work? And WTH about the twelve hours shifts? Does she think if nurses just work 8 hour shifts they don't need a break?!?! Why is this even up for debate? Are not all workers entitled to a break? Most nurses get docked half hour a day for the break that most don't get!