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her team. She got me in involved in the union, and many other things I would have never considered. She wanted the hospital to be the best it could be and she really took the initiative to be a voice and show others what needed to be done, and then she did her best to rally to get things done." Kautz said she would like to honor Evan by continuing the work she was doing, "I feel a responsibility to carry on her work, I feel like she left a big hole and it will take a lot to even approach what she had been able to do." Jan Griffin, a nurse practitioner remembered Sison as an important leader at her hospital. Griffin said Sison was the "rock for our [nurse practi- tioner] group" and a nurse who was "a strong, quiet leader with great skills." Griffin said Sison took on the most diffi- cult jobs and she handled them well with grace and kindness. Sison was pursuing a doctorate degree. "She was working on a very important doctoral thesis that would improve the lives of Kaiser patients tremendously and that will not be completed." Fernisa Sison is survived by her daughter Nisa Shinagawa, a registered nurse, and her son Dominic Selga, a registered nurse at St. Joseph's Medical Center and his wife, Vanessa Selga. Evan, Angela, and Nicole Quitasol are survived by their mother Susanna Rosas. Michael Quitasol is survived by his daughter Christina Quitasol, a registered nurse in San Diego. —Rachel Berger WRAP-UP REPORT GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL AND REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER in september, RNs at Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif. overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract, ending a bargaining campaign that included three pickets and two strike votes. "We picketed and voted to strike because we want to make sure patients who come to Regional Medical Center get optimal care," said Maureen Zeman, RN and member of the bargaining team. "We advo- cated for our community and for our staff. We want to retain experienced nurses because their expertise and knowledge greatly benefits our patients." The nurses won provisions such as the creation of a new committee that ensures that nurses have a voice in the implementa- tion of the hospital's new scheduling system, investment in continuing education, and a minimum of 3 percent increase in pay for all nurses in the first year of the agreement with a maximum of 27 percent over the term of the contract for some nurses, among other gains. MEE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL registered nurses at Mee Memorial Hospital in King City, Calif. held a candle- light vigil in August to alert the community to patient care concerns at the hospital. Nurses say the layoffs of 43 health care workers, chronic short staffing, and requir- ing nurses to work in units outside of their experience and expertise is putting patient care at risk. "We serve a very high-risk population: mothers with chronic diseases like diabetes and chronic hypertension," said Margie Saiz, an obstetrics nurse at Mee Memorial. "We are supposed to have three nurses on night shift but we are constantly short. Newborns are very fragile and their condi- tion can change very rapidly. What happens if there is an emer- gency and there is just one nurse on the floor?" Many of the laid-off health care workers have worked at the hospital for years and even decades. Nurses note these health care workers provide a critical service as inter- preters for a patient population that is overwhelmingly native Spanish or Triqui speakers. RNs say these health care workers also provide the extra hands necessary to meet any number of patient care needs. OROVILLE HOSPITAL registered nurses at Oroville Hospital in Oroville, Calif. unanimously ratified a new four-year contract in July. "Bargaining is a process and thanks to the unity and advo- cacy of our nurses and the actions they took, we were able to obtain strong language on safe staffing," said Ea Thao, RN. Contract highlights include language supporting safe staffing for safe patient care, including staffing protocols during declared emergencies or disasters, expanded work- place violence language, improved language on meal and rest breaks, communicable disease protections, and across-the-board pay increases of 12 percent over the term of Nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif. celebrated successful negotiations for a new three-year contract. J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 17