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Profile:FINAL 9/2/09 3:16 PM Page 18 Getting Results B renda Langford, RN has always been focused on getting results. She worked as a social worker for six months after graduating college, but soon went back to school for nursing. "Social work wasn't for me," she explained. "I like to be able to see a measurable, attainable goal in helping someone." As a nurse leader and a member of the CNA/NNOC board of directors representing RNs working for the Chicago area's public health system, Langford has stayed true to her nature. Whether it's fighting Cook County over budget cuts, bargaining a new contract, or making sure that all Americans can access healthcare, Langford is constantly moving toward a goal. After finishing nursing school in 1995, Langford worked first at a 18 REGISTERED NURSE nursing home, then a psychiatric facility, and then at a Catholic hospital. In 1998, she moved to Oak Forest Hospital, which is part of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, the public system serving the greater Chicago area. She still works there today. Langford started out on a medical-surgical unit, but soon realized that the security of her job depended heavily on the system's and county's budget. "I was displaced several times!" she noted. After med-surg, she worked in the oncology infusion center, then in the subacute unit, and now in telemetry. And it wasn't just her unit that would change. Depending on the county's finances for the year, who was in charge, and how the system was organized, RNs' work environments could be in continual flux. Most RNs worked 12-hour shifts, but management threatened to take those away. The county bought supplies from vendors through an open bid process, so supplies such as IV equipment could change from W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 0 9 ILLINOIS MEDIA PROGRESSIVES Board member Brenda Langford has always felt that her goal as an RN is to make real changes for patients. By Lucia Hwang