When the Georgia General Assembly convenes on the second Monday in January each year, the docket usually includes a number of issues affecting health care. Whether it's legislation allowing nurse practitioners to write prescriptions or a bill that relates to the delivery of long-term care, the Legislature is faced with decisions that affect those in health care careers.
The majority of Georgia legislators come from legal or business backgrounds. There are at least two legisla- tors, however, who earned their credentials as practicing nurses. State Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) and state Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) worked for much of their careers as clinicians. Their clinical experience puts them in the forefront of health care issues being debated in the Georgia Legislature.
"Being a critical care nurse, I learned how to cope with a high-pressure, intense job," Unterman said. "I had to be able to deal with the stress, think fast and solve problems, much like we do in the Legislature. It's been very easy to make the transition into politics."
Cooper, RN, MSN, worked as a psychiatric and pediatric nurse; she also taught nursing at Brenau University in Gainesvillle.
"I miss taking care of patients and teaching students," Cooper said. "I really enjoyed that type of contact." Today, both women say their political careers have positioned them to do greater good.
Unterman, RN, is vice chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "As an elected official, I can work on larger social problems," said Unterman, who served on the House Health and Human Services committee during her two terms as a state representative before being elected to the state Senate in 2002.
In addition to her role in health and human services in the Senate, she chairs the Senate Ethics Committee. "However, my role is not just dealing with health care, but what's in the best interest of society," Unterman said. Cooper is in her fifth term as a state representative. In 2002, she was elected to chair the Republican Caucus for the House, the third-highest rank in that chamber's Republican leadership.
"I feel like I can certainly help a lot more patients across the state [by being in the Legislature]," said Cooper, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee in the House.
Her background in health care gives Cooper a keen understanding of the issues, but she sees her role as over-reaching.
"Trying to find a balance between opposing sides is a challenge," she said. "I've been elected by 45,000 people, and most of them are not nurses. It's hard to explain sometimes to other nurses that I can't favor our profession, and I have to do what's best overall. The goal of Health and Human Services is to assure access to quality health care to the citizens of Georgia."
Unterman admits that being an advocate for nurses and allied health professionals has helped in her role as a politician, but the system is still based on politics. "Sometimes things that seem like common sense may be denied because of politics," she said. "For health care professionals across the state, one of the best ways to make a big difference in health care issues is to become involved in the political process.
"You can't start at the top; you have to work your way through the system through good interpersonal skills and communication. That's why nursing is so adaptable to politics."
For Cooper, representing citizens of the state and her fellow nurses is not mutually exclusive. "It's true, I'm a nurse, but as chair, I have to do what's best for the 7 million people of Georgia," she said.
"But remember this, at one time or another, we'll all be patients."