National Nurses United

what they wanted for Mother's Day. The notes were displayed on the bulletin board by the cafeteria. Every event was an opportunity to speak to nurses and share information. There were flyers to educate RNs on Weingarten rights, ADOs (assignment despite objection docu- mentation), and what to do when you have an unsafe assignment. "Nurses were glad that we were able to do something for them," said Gonzalez. "We had really good partici- pation and we signed up new members." At Kaiser South San Francisco, the PPC began organizing and hosting an open house for inpatient nurses in 2019. "The goal is to inspire and uplift and create opportunities for our colleagues to connect and give back," said Shellane Raymundo, RN in the float pool and chair of the PPC there. "It's a fun, educational celebration in a welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels valued and appreciated." In 2019, Raymundo noticed that management organized fewer Nurses Week activities so to reinvigorate this celebration, she proposed organizing a PPC open house, timed to coincide with Nurses Week in May. "We told management that the open house would be a wonderful opportunity to show our gratitude and support for our nurses," says Raymundo, who has been a PPC member for more than 10 years. Since then, the Kaiser South San Fran- cisco event has evolved into a biannual eight-hour affair so nurses on all shifts can attend. Held in May and December, the PPC organizes interactive educational booths focused on different issues. Members sign in, get a raffle ticket, and once they have visited each booth, they get a goody bag and can grab a bite to eat. Raffle prize winners are selected throughout the day, with nurses winning succulent plants, See's Candies gift certificates, coffee gift cards, and more. The PPC members cover all expenses and decide which topics to cover, for example, fall prevention, floating, retirement, the grievance process, ADOs, EPIC, clinical ladder, and more. To make the booths enter- taining as well as educational, each PPC member picks a topic and creates an engag- ing poster, often a large trifold display board with a fun game to play or a puzzle to solve. To win a prize (toys, chocolate, pens, etc.), you must answer a question about the topic. One year Raymundo created a display about fall prevention, complete with images of nurses and falling patients along with a Plinko game. Raymundo would have a brief discussion about preventing falls and then the nurse would play Plinko, which was a fun way for her to assess their understand- ing of the information they covered. Then they could get a sticky wall climber figure as a giveaway. To demo the figure's falling, one side of her display was partially covered with clear plexiglass so Raymundo could show the figure sticking to the glass and falling end over end, the perfect prize for her booth. "The PPC is different from other committees," says Raymundo. "It's the only committee written in our contract with the members elected by nurses. We are elected and that means our colleagues put their trust in us. We are the voices of our nurses. If we are not there, who will voice our safety concerns to our management?" Chuleenan Svetvilas is a communications specialist at National Nurses United. J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 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 21 Opposite: Who killed safe staffing murder board; Monica Gonzalez, RN, right and Zetta Hackleman, RN, left with unsafe staffing evidence sheets; Above, clockwise from top left: Fall prevention booth at a PPC Open House at Kaiser South San Francisco; Assignment Despite Objection booth; Shellane Raymundo, RN, PPC chair; Nurses Week Mother's Day wishes at ASMCA.

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