ELGIN – Starting Jan. 1, 2019, nurses will now be protected under the Healthcare Violence Prevention Act thanks to State Senator Cristina Castro’s new law.

“Health care providers devote their lives to helping their patients,” Castro said (D-Elgin). “Now it is time that we help them. Nurses deserve to go to work and feel safe.”

The new law creates the Healthcare Violence Prevention Act to protect health care providers, puts in place a violence prevention program and adds whistleblower protections for nurses who report violence to law enforcement.

Castro introduced the legislation in response to an incident that occurred in Kane County on May 13, 2017, at Delanor Hospital. Two nurses were taken hostage by an inmate undergoing treatment who managed to obtain a handgun.

“The incident that happened in my home county at Delanor Hospital was both alarming and upsetting,” Castro said. “These nurses went to work that day to do their jobs and help their patients, but instead they were assaulted. That’s why I brought forth this legislation. Our nurses deserve to be protected.”

House Bill 4100 passed the Senate and House with bipartisan support.