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, July-August-September 2025 (Volume 121/3) 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 gen- eral coverage and commen tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and health care policy. It is pub- lished 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 Puneet Maharaj EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Sarah Cecile CONTRIBUTORS Rachel Berger, Lauren Bloomquist, Lucy Diavolo, Kari Jones, Dawn Kettinger, Michelle Morris, Chuleenan Svetvilas, Martha Wallner PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro as you can see from this issue's profile on the life and work of Linda Hamilton, RN, National Nurses United likely wouldn't exist and our nurses' movement would not be where it is today without the help of this tremendous nurse. Sadly, Linda passed away this summer. She was a Minnesota Nurses Association nurse leader and a driving force behind MNA and other progressive unions' decision to form NNU in 2009. Linda will be greatly missed, but also fondly remembered as a mentor and role model. This issue of National Nurse magazine is dedicated to her. So much has changed over the past few months. In July, Congressional Republicans passed H.R. 1, which essentially stole nearly $1 trillion from the neediest people in our coun- try—via Medicaid, food assistance, and other programs—and gave it to billionaires and huge corporations as massive tax cuts. It's perverse. President Trump has continued to ignore the U.S. Constitution, civil liberties, separation of powers, and rule of law in all aspects of American government and life, prosecuting his personal enemies, apparently illegally blow- ing up ships in international waters, bullying universities to mirror his propaganda, having Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents kidnap immigrants, peaceful protesters, and even U.S. citizens off the streets and shipping them off to detention centers or deporting them to other countries with- out due process—the list goes on. And globally, we mourn and protest the loss of lives in Gaza and Ukraine. Please do not be in denial, hiding your head in the sand and avoiding the news, because Trump's fascist takeover of our country is well underway and will not stop unless we fight back with all we have. If we don't fight now, it only gets harder. We are patient advocates, and our patients are hurt- ing. Badly. Nurses are the most trusted profession in the United States and people are looking to us for leadership and vision. So it's time to step up. There is hope, though! At NNU's Global Nurses Solidarity Assembly this year, nurses learned about the many ways we can resist authoritarianism and we heard success stories from our nurse colleagues from around the world, because fascism is on the rise globally. Nurses explained about how their labor movements joined with fellow activists to overcome wannabe dictators in South Korea, Brazil, and elsewhere. Nurses around the world share so many common goals and values. It was energizing to see that many nurses riled up! So please, please get involved. We are holding trainings for nurses about how to respond if we encounter ICE at our hospitals. We are organizing in our metro areas. We con- tinue to organize nonunion nurses. We must get out in the streets. Please talk to your chief nurse reps and labor reps for ways to plug in and save our democracy. Jamie Brown, RN; Nancy Hagans, RN; Cathy Kennedy, RN; Mary Turner, RN National Nurses United Presidents Letter from the NNU presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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