Sen. Patty Murray will hold a news conference at St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor tomorrow as a way to bring attention to the local and national shortage of nurses and other critical health care workers.

She will also discuss her efforts to include federal funding in national health care reform legislation that will address workforce issues of the future. As access to health care is broadened through national health care reform, even more nurses and other health care workers will be needed locally and across the nation in the future.

Joining Murray at the news conference will be: Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, Registered Nurse Desiree Butler, Franciscan Health System Chief Operating Officer Cliff Robertson, and Laurie Brown, chief nursing officer for Franciscan.