18/06/2025
https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H6088A.pdf
Attention Rhode Island Residents:
This bill DESPERATELY needs prompt Senate support to pass this year!
Please consider writing a letter urging the RI Senate to pass the Foot Care Nursing bill THIS YEAR to allow access to this basic care for all Rhode Islanders.
Feel free to use my letter as a guide/template, or write a letter in your own words conveying the necessity of this important aspect of care, and the urgency that access to it is allowed.
Be sure to include your name and address, cc your own Senator.
Your support CAN make a difference!
email: sen-murray@rilegislature.gov (she is the chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee)
cc email: sen-lawson@rilegislature.gov (she is the President of the RI Senate)
Here is a link to look up your own Senator's email address: https://rilegislature.gov/senators/default.aspx
Senate Health & Human Services Committee
Dear Senator Murray,
A very important bill that has been referred to your HHS committee is H-6088A. This bill allows trained foot care nurses to provide basic & routine foot and nail care to residents in private homes. RI currently is the ONLY state in the country prohibiting nurses from providing this much needed preventative care to its residents.
This bill UNANIMOUSLY passed in the House HHS Committee, as well as on the House floor vote. It has overwhelming support from law makers, state senior groups, home health nursing agencies, elderly RI residents, homebound Veterans, and family caregivers.
There are skilled, highly trained and qualified nurses who practice this routine foot care who have been driven out of the state to practice elsewhere. This has left HUNDREDS of RI residents without access to this basic care: increasing risk of falls, injury, pain, infection, loss of limbs, impaired mobility, and hospitalizations. Foot care is a basic human need, but requires skill to perform safely and effectively.
Time is of the essence, and assisting this bill to pass THIS YEAR will limit further suffering and promote access to this care. Residents and caregivers in RI DESERVE access to these services. Passing this bill is the humane thing to do to protect the health and wellness of the most vulnerable residents of our state.
Thank you for your leadership and consideration,
Tina McDonald RN
Tiverton, RI
