what do you mean "public servants"? Aren't we already public servants?

Bossy,

What I meant was will nurses everywhere be required to work and help out? I know that when things happen in the world in terms of safety that police officers are all on call to help.

I just wondered if the government would somehow make every nurse be available during that type of crisis.

Well there isn't a draft like the military, so they can't force you to. But if you work for a public hospital, you could be required to do something. When I worked for our city hospital, the mayor always had the authority to declare an emergency and if you were a city employee (as RNs working for the city hospital were), you could be required to stay and help out. Since 9/11, some state boards of nursing have tried to gather a list of nurses who would be willing to volunteer if a disaster struck their region.

But really, if something like Hurricane Katrina or 9/11 happened in your town, wouldn't you want to do something to help your neighbors?