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 2021 (Volume 117/1) 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, California. 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, Charles Idelson, Kari Jones, Ty Richardson, Amber Smigiel, Chuleenan Svetvilas PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro we hope 2021 has been a better year so far for all of you compared to 2020. There's a lot more to be optimistic about. We have a presidential administration who has prom- ised to follow the science of infection control in fighting the pandemic, and appears to be walking the talk so far. We now have at least three Covid-19 vaccines and many of us nurses have already been inoculated. Cases are on the downward trajectory almost everywhere, and we pray that it stays that way. Renewal is everywhere, and that is evident by the string of organizing successes and strong contract settlements National Nurses United affiliates have been achieving despite the pandemic. From California to Michigan, nurses have been voting to have a collective voice on the job for themselves and for their patients. But the carnage and suffering is still real and many of us will be coping with death, trauma, and sorrow for the rest of our lifetimes. In this issue, we meet four nurse members who all contracted and recovered from Covid-19, some just barely. Their lives and health have been changed forever. And, as we know, more than 340 of us nurses (that we know of so far) paid the ultimate price for our caring work; in this issue, we also profile three RN members who died of Covid—and we will continue to try to profile as many as we can gather enough information about. It is shocking when reading these obituaries how similar these nurses were: All were of Philippines descent (the disproportionate impact on Filipinx nurses and nurses of color is well documented), enjoyed close-knit families, had big hearts, were top-notch nurses, and simply had a zest for life. We will miss them and their talents so much. But, as we say in the famous words of Mother Jones, we pray for the dead and fight like hell—as a collective union— for the living. That's what we have been doing all along, and what we will continue to do in 2021. 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

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