November 24, 2023
The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) joins our health care colleagues across the world in condemning all acts of violence, terrorism, and cultural and religious persecution.
ONA recognizes that violent conflicts, like the one currently afflicting the Middle East, place an extreme burden on hospitals, care givers and patients. War depletes crucial resources needed to care for the injured, inflicts trauma and death on health care providers who are seeking only to heal the wounded, and can devastate health care infrastructure for years, if not decades.
ONA joins the American Nurses Association in urging all parties, leaders, policymakers, and elected officials to respect international law, protect access to health care and protect the care givers who risk their lives to provide health care to the wounded.
ONA also stands in solidarity with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and encourages all nurses and our allies in health care to support the ICN’s #NURSESFORPEACE campaign. ONA has donated to the ICN Humanitarian Fund on behalf of our more than 17,000 represented workers.
ONA also encourages all our members, and all other concerned health care providers, to take action in support of our colleagues and their patients being impacted by the war in the Middle East. That might include:
1) Contacting your federally elected representatives and urging them to act.
2) Donating to an organization with a focus on providing crucial support to health care providers and health care infrastructure. For example:
3) Consider getting involved with ALLMEP (Alliance for Middle East Peace), which is a coalition of over 170 organizations—and tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis—building people-to-people cooperation, coexistence, equality, shared society, mutual understanding, and peace among their communities. The ALLMEP website has a range of resources for people wishing to learn more about historic violence in the Middle East and includes useful guidance for individuals wanting help discussing these issues in the workplace. ALLMEP also has a range of services you can support.
4) For individuals looking for ways to help Israeli families impacted by the October 7th attacks, the Jewish Agency for Israel (North American Council) has a Fund For Victims of Terror (among other programs based in Israel).
5) Nurse.org also has a detailed list of ways nurses can help address the current crisis facing Gaza’s health care system, which is on the verge of collapse.
6) The Palestinian American Medical Association also has a range of ways for nurses and other health care providers to get involved, including sharing petitions, content for social media awareness raising, and resources for Palestinians who are considering a career in health care (including educational funds.)
