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, April-May-June 2026 (Volume 122/2) 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 health care 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 Omar Bantayan, Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro we're sure many of us have followed a household budget at some point in our lives. And how we spent our budget reflected our life pri- orities. Housing, food, health care, and transportation were likely high on our lists. Failing to feed our family or take them to the doctor but instead spending all our funds on weapons, for example, would be wrong. Outrageously, that is exactly what the Trump administration is doing. They are actively starving and attack- ing people in our country while they have spent more than a billion dollars a day of our tax dollars not only bombing Iran, but funding Israel's genocide in Gaza and invasion of Leba- non. They prioritize warfare on innocent people abroad and at home instead of using our funds to meet the basic needs of the people it has the responsibility to protect. The only groups that benefit from Trump's illegal war and military actions are billionaire and corporate profiteers. Nurses have entirely different priorities. Our mission is to heal people, and we all know the first rule of medicine is to "Do no harm." We value care, and believe our tax dollars should be spent on improving all the social determinants of health that we know our patients need to not just survive, but to live fulfilling lives. We should be funding health care, hous- ing, food, education, unionized living-wage jobs, a healthy planet, and so much more. When hundreds of us gathered in our nation's capital this year at our Nurses for Democracy Federal Lobby Day, our message was clear: Fund health care, not warfare. And we know that to win programs such as Medicare for All and safe staffing standards, we must first defeat Trump's fascist take- over of our democratic government and institutions. In this issue, we take a closer look at how our Veterans Health Administration (VA) nurses have adapted to very challenging conditions under the Trump administration. As many of you know, Trump revoked through executive order their union con- tract and collective bargaining rights last August, but the VA nurses have pressed on. We could all learn from their example of how to be a union when the employer denies your existence. They are truly inspirational and they do it for their veterans. It's hard to believe summer is almost here. Some of our states will have seminal primary elections in June, and then the midterms will be here before we know it. Nurses, if we want to heal this country, we urge every single one of you to get involved in whatever way you can. We hope you all know by now that politics is our lane, because politics is about who holds power, and we cannot achieve our goals as nurses without power. The best way to build and wield that power is collectively, through our union. See you out there. In solidarity, 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 INSTAGRAM: NationalNurses TIKTOK: @NationalNurses X: @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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