National Nurses United

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (USPS publication permit number 0807-560/ISSN 2153- 0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, January- February-March 2020 (Volume 116/1) is published by National Nurses United, 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. It provides news of or ganizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commen - tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and health- care policy. It is published quarterly, with combined issues in January-February- March (winter), April-May-June (spring), July-August-September (summer), and October-November-December (fall). Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, Cal- ifornia. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. To send a media release or announce- ment, fax (510) 663-0629. National Nurse™ is carried on the NNU website at www.nationalnursesunited.org. For permission to reprint articles, write to Editorial Office. To subscribe, send $40 ($45 foreign) to Subscription Department. Please contact us with your story ideas They can be about practice or manage- ment trends you've observed, or simply something new you've encountered in the profession. They can be about one nurse, unit, or hospital, or about the wider landscape of healthcare policy from an RN's perspective. They can be humorous, or a matter of life and death. If you're a writer and would like to contribute an article, please let us know. You can reach us at nationalnurse@nationalnursesunited.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bonnie Castillo, RN EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Sarah Cecile CONTRIBUTORS Rachel Berger, Amber Smiegel, Kari Jones, Chuleenan Svetvilas, Martha Wallner PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Sarah Maple, Choppy Oshiro since National Nurses United is composed predominantly of registered nurses, it's natural that we tend to focus on what the nurses within the organi- zation are doing. As nurses, however, we know that we would not be able to do our jobs without the support and labor of a whole host of non- RN colleagues: nursing assistants, respiratory techs, aides, lab and pharmacy techs, you name it. Some of you may not be aware, but NNU also counts these professions among our members, and they are represented by the Caregivers and Health Care Employees Union (CHEU) within our organization. Recently, nearly 700 workers at Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia voted to unionize with CHEU, joining their RN coworkers who had also unionized with the California Nurses Association in recent years. It was a sweet victory, and we want to give a special congratu- lations and shout-out to them in recognition of all that they do. We are glad to be fighting side by side with them in our struggle to win the best standards, conditions, and protec- tions for ourselves, our patients, and our communities. There's a lot going on, to put it mildly. It's a presidential election year, we're all constantly challenging management for what we need to do our jobs at work, and now the entire globe is dealing with the newest coronavirus. Is your facility prepared? Please complete our coronavirus survey; you can find the link on the back cover of this magazine. Nurses and other health care workers, patients, and our communities deserve the highest levels of protection. But if anyone is up to the task of saving the world, it's nurses. We know it, and the public knows it, too. That's why we, again, topped Gallup's annual poll for the most ethical and honest profession. We call things as we see it, and fix whatever needs fixing. And we're a lot more effective when we do it together, through our union. The world needs a lot of fixing right now, so let's all keep at it. Deborah Burger, RN | Jean Ross, RN | Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN National Nurses United Presidents Letter from the NNU presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @RNmagazine, @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

• Cover