Two former nursing colleagues are congresswomen running for re-election in California districts. They talked with Nurse.com about how their former healthcare careers have influenced what they do as politicians.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-23) representing California’s 23rd District (running for re-election in the 24th District)

Lois Capps, BSN, who also has master’s degrees in education and religion, worked as an acute care nurse in an outpatient clinic and more than 20 years as a school nurse for the Santa Barbara (Calif.) School District.

Now a congresswoman in the 23rd District, which includes Santa Barbara, Capps said she didn’t plan to run for Congress. She felt compelled to fill the seat of her late husband, Rep. Walter H. Capps, who died shortly after he was elected. She was sworn in as a member of the 105th Congress in 1998.

"Once I was in Congress, I realized what an asset my background was and is," she said.

Capps serves on several committees, many of which focus on healthcare. She serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Health; Energy and Power; and Environment and Economy subcommittees. She helps make decisions on issues such as Medicare reform, the nursing shortage, cancer and mental health.

She founded and is co-chair of the House Nursing Caucus. She also is co-chair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, the House Cancer Caucus and Congressional School Health and Safety Caucus.

Capps said she often looks at issues from the point of view of a nurse.

"I look at the environment and energy from a health point of view and was very involved in the mercury standard for emissions from our power plants because it affects health so very strongly," she said.

That’s why nurses’ voices need to be heard, she said.

"It’s our understanding of the role that health plays in people’s lives. I was very proud of the profession for standing with both our president and this new [Affordable Care Act] legislation," Capps said. "It’s not a perfect law, but it was sorely needed and nurses knew very keenly ... why we had a broken healthcare system. We have the finest care in the world; yet, it’s so far out of reach for so many people.’"

Rep. Karen Bass (D-33), representing California’s 33rd District

Karen Bass, LVN, PA, was a NICU nurse in the 1970s and early ’80s before going back to school to become a physician assistant. As a PA, Bass worked in emergency medicine.

"What I loved about medicine, and especially emergency medicine, was the instant gratification of helping someone," Bass said. "But what always motivated me was why they were in the emergency room to begin with. That’s where you get into areas of public policy."

Bass said she worked in a county facility, caring for people without insurance. It was then that she realized the extent to which politics and public policy run people’s lives.

"So practicing medicine gave me the instant gratification of helping someone," she said. "Being in public policy gives me the gratification of being able to help large numbers of people, but it definitely takes longer."

Bass said healthcare reform is a step in the right direction, but more work needs to be done.

"The first thing I thought of when healthcare reform was passed was: It’s wonderful that we’re going to extend coverage to 30 million people. But when I was a nurse and a PA, we were always understaffed. So, who is going to provide this service?" Bass said. "That’s the bad news, but also the good news. Because it means that our professions have the opportunity to really expand."

She recalls going to nursing school when getting an education was almost free, and said she is troubled that many of the public schools in California have eliminated their nursing programs. The result, she said, is nursing students have to pay high tuitions at private institutions.

Bass said she intends to get involved in healthcare workforce issues in Congress to bring nursing back to community colleges and other public schools. She also believes loan forgiveness programs, which would pay nursing school students’ tuitions if they graduate and work in underserved areas, would be beneficial.

Nurses, she said, need to get involved in these and other decisions.

"It’s so important to bring your voice to the public policy arena. ... I might know healthcare, but many of my colleagues have absolutely no background in healthcare; yet, we make decisions about what you can and can’t do as a nurse," she said.

Getting involved in nursing organizations is a good first step.

"Nurses are lucky because the organizations that represent them are very powerful," she said. "Everyone should know who their congress member is, who their state representative is and should feel free to call them, meet with them or invite them to your hospital so they can see what you do."