National Nurses United

Profile_FINAL 11/24/09 5:56 PM Page 18 Leader of the Pack RN board member Carol Koelle is always out in front, whether in nursing , organizing, or changing policy. By Sarah E. Clark B ack in the late 1990s as a charge nurse for a busy 45-bed telemetry unit at St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif ., RN Car ol K oelle automatically understood the importance of having enough RN staff to safely car e for patients . "W e had been dealing with [understaffing] for so long," remembered Koelle. "They would tell us as charge nurses, 'You have to deal with it.' It wasn't fair because we knew more nurses were needed." So Koelle and her fellow charge nurses became active with the California Nurses Association, attending seminars about the need for safe staffing ratios. When CNA worked with Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl to introduce its groundbreaking RN-to-patient ratios law, AB 392, in 1999, Koelle was one of thousands of nurses who mobilized for the legislation with calls, letters, postcards, and by attending rallies of RNs thousands strong. Delighted after the bill passed and was signed into law in October 1999 by Gov. Gray Davis, Koelle's attention next turned to how she and her coworkers were going to hold their employer to the new ratios. She was concerned the hospital would just repeat its past behavior and nurses would have no recourse. "We knew if we got the union in there, we would have the backbone to enforce the ratios," she said. So Koelle joined in that battle as well, ultimately helping unionize St. Bernardine by a landslide in March 2001. As evidenced by these stories, Koelle is a natural-born nurse leader who has been a member of the CN A/NNOC board of directors since 2007. Today, the size of her telemetry unit has mor e than doubled to 96 beds, and she's still charge nurse. She plays many important roles, not only as a representative of the fast-growing Inland Empire region of Southern California and as a r egistered nurse leader working within the West's largest Catholic hospital chain, but as some one who understands that nurses across the country need a union voice. "Organizing is my passion because I want everyone to have what I have," said Koelle. "I think every nurse deserves to have protection from management, from the corporate world. Every nurse deserves to be paid what they're worth. Every nurse deserves to have safe staffing ratios." Koelle is one of those RN who always wanted to be a nurse. When s she played as a child and someone had an accident, she w as always the first one on the scene, bandaging people up. Her mother's work as an emergency volunteer for the Navy during World War II, administering shots and carrying out other nursing assistant w ork, made a big impression on Koelle, as did an aunt who worked as an RN in San Diego. "It's something I always wanted to do when I was a little kid," she said. "I wanted to help people." 18 REGISTERED NURSE Straight out of high school, Koelle was accepted into a nursing program at Long Beach City College. It was a big honor to be accepted, but Koelle had just gotten married and already had a job with a grocery store. And, sadly at the time, "nurses weren't making much more than a grocery checker," said Koelle. Nursing school would have to wait until she was 28 years old. By then, she had three sons, with the youngest just 2 years old. On the first day of nursing school, Koelle was told, "If you are married and have children, by the end you'll be divorced." Decades later, Koelle is still married and her kids are all raised. It took her four years to get her two-year nursing degree. She got an associate degree in science and math along the way. "You run yourself ragged; it's fun," said Koelle. Since she needed to work during nursing school, and carpal tunnel had taken her out of the grocery business, she applied for a W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G OCTOBER 2009

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