09/14/2026
💜 WHAT IS THE WYN4LIFE SAFE STAFFING INITIATIVE PROPOSING?
Safe Assignments Save Lives — but what should a safe assignment actually look like in Virginia?
The Wyn4Life Safe Staffing Initiative is working toward a proposal for enforceable, evidence-based staffing protections that consider more than just a number on a staffing sheet.
Our goal is for Virginia to consider reasonable maximum nurse assignments, adequate CNA/direct-care staffing, patient and resident acuity, total nursing hours, staffing transparency, protection for healthcare workers who report unsafe assignments, and funding that allows facilities to realistically meet safer standards.
Why haven’t we announced a specific ratio yet?
Because we want YOUR input before we do.
We could simply announce that Virginia should require 1 nurse for every 10, 15, 20, or another number of residents—but that’s not how we want this campaign to work.
We want the evidence to help determine the proposal.
A nurse caring for 20 relatively stable residents does not necessarily have the same workload as a nurse caring for 20 residents who require wound treatments, insulin, IV medications, feeding tubes, frequent assessments, fall interventions, behavioral care, admissions or management of significant changes in condition.
The same is true for CNAs. A number doesn’t tell us how many residents require extensive assistance with toileting, transfers, feeding, repositioning, bathing and other activities of daily living.
Before we recommend specific ratios to Virginia policymakers, we need to hear from the people actually providing and receiving the care.
📋 WE NEED TWO SIDES OF THE STORY
👩⚕️ RNs, LPNs, CNAs & Healthcare Workers
Tell us what your assignments actually look like, what happens when acuity increases, what care becomes difficult to complete, and what you believe a reasonable assignment should be.
Take the Virginia Healthcare Worker Safe Staffing Survey
👨👩👧👦 Patients, Residents, Families & Caregivers
Tell us what staffing has looked like from the other side of the bedside. Have you experienced long waits for assistance, delayed care, rushed staff, difficulty getting questions answered, or felt that you needed to stay with your loved one because staff had too many people to care for?
Take the Virginia Patient, Resident & Family Survey
🏛️ THEN WE BUILD THE PROPOSAL
We will use the survey findings alongside research, Virginia staffing data, existing law, resident acuity and financial analysis to develop the final recommendations.
The goal is eventually to be able to tell Virginia policymakers:
This is what frontline healthcare workers reported.
This is what patients and families experienced.
This is what the research shows.
This is what safe staffing should look like.
And this is a realistic path for Virginia to achieve it.
That’s why we haven’t finalized the ratios yet.
We don’t want to decide for you before we’ve listened to you.
Please complete the survey that applies to you—and share it with other Virginians. The more voices we hear, the stronger and more representative our proposal can become.
💜 Your experience is evidence. Your voice can help shape the proposal.
Safe Staffing. Safe Patients. Supported Nurses.
Safe Assignments Save Lives.
Wyn4Life Safe Staffing Initiative
Advocacy • Education • Community • Change
