Tristin Kate Smith was a nurse in Ohio who loved advocating for her patients. In 2023, she died by suicide. Her family later found a letter on her laptop describing a profession that had left her overwhelmed — too many patients, too few breaks, not enough support.

Her father, Ron Smith, has been fighting ever since. "The lawmakers have got to do the right thing," he said. "They can't bury their heads to it for so long."

Tristin is not an outlier. A 2024 Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) survey found more than half of Ohio's direct care nurses were considering leaving due to overwhelming patient loads. Research published in 2026 shows the more patients a nurse is responsible for, the more likely those patients are to die in care or stay in the hospital longer.

Ohio's legislature has a rare opportunity: two bipartisan bills designed to fix this. House Bill 521 (Democrat-sponsored) would set mandatory nurse-patient ratios for each hospital unit. House Bill 535 (Republican-sponsored) would put frontline nurses in charge of crafting their hospital's own staffing plans. The Ohio Nurses Association says the two are built to work together.

Neither has made it out of committee. The session ends in December — when both bills die if nothing changes.

The Ohio Hospital Association has lobbied against them. But ONA executive director Rick Lucas says lawmakers already know there's a problem. "The hospital lobby comes in behind us," he said, "and they're in there greasing the skids against us."

Ohio has until December. Sign this petition to demand the Ohio House and Senate pass HB521 and HB535 now — before the session ends and another year passes without protecting the nurses who protect us.