National Nurses United

Bus Tour:1 11/20/08 11:09 PM Page 13 scream of disbelief. The young man quickly retreated from his perch.It was a moment I do not think any of us will ever forget. A CIGNA employee obscenely gestures parents of a dead teenager and guess what? CIGNA called the police to have the protesters removed from the lobby. Our gesture in response must be to end this madness. For-profit, private insurance can never substitute for single-payer, publicly funded, privately delivered care. Doctors and nurses and patients must be deciding together what the best course of treatment may be, not an insurance company employee whose overwhelming urge to "flip-off" the patient will guide the decision. somewhere in new england—Today we've been through keep bringing it on in their home states and nationally until every patient, every citizen, every human being is granted the basic human right of healthcare when he or she is ill. chesapeake, virginia—Perhaps it would have been more logical to wrap up this road show in the nation's capital, grab the "money" shots, and head for home. But that wouldn't be quite the usual style of the brave and hardworking nurses of CNA/NNOC. So long as there were voters to educate and healthcare "hero" candidates who needed support, the nurses worked on. In Chesapeake, Virginia, Congressional candidate Andrea Miller was thrilled to see the healthcare road show bus, complete with the RNs' candidate report card, in her district. CNA/NNOC copresident Across the street, the nurses found coworkers James Ross and Chris Honeywell busy preparing for a benefit to raise money for an ill friend, 44-year-old Tim Mullany of Rochester, who gave up his job as a cook at a popular restaurant after he was diagnosed with lymphoma. "We just have to help him. He has bills and expenses," said his friends. They hoped to raise $1,000 for their buddy. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Every stop, every step is one taken to reach toward our objective: educating our fellow citizens about healthcare reform and about HR 676. Seems like we end up reaching lots of people in diners and coffee shops where they don't really seem to mind too much if a nurse walks up to offer some information and then engages in conversation about healthcare problems everyone has within their families or circles of friends. Everybody in the diner needs healthcare: cooks, wait staff, owners, customers. If they give these nurses a moment, they'll be much better informed about the best way to clean up the mess in this nation's for-profit healthcare system. portland, maine—Today the nurses of the Maine State Nurses Association and CNA/NNOC drove their healthcare report card bus to the town square for a rally with Chellie Pingree. She's a nurse's daughter and mother of a state legislator, and is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 1st Congressional District.Chellie talked about HR 676 and single-payer healthcare and expressed her desire to get to work to help fix this broken system. Energy out in the communities we have visited is high surrounding this election, and we are thrilled to be visiting areas where our endorsed candidates, our 2008 healthcare heroes, are running fantastic campaigns and standing firm on single-payer. washington, d.c.—And what could we say on the steps of the Capitol? That we want HR 676 passed and signed! Single-payer healthcare, as advocated by the nurses, is by far the most responsible, respectful, and reasonable plan for our nation. And the nurses will NOVEMBER 2008 Geri Jenkins shared some rally time with Andrea and wished her well in the election. While the presidential race is often the sexiest from a media perspective, nurses know that whenthey look for legislative support for making their profession stronger, it is often the people whohold Congressional office that are the most critical. So on this long road show, the bus made its way to five of the Congressional districts where RNs identified healthcare heroes—candidates who support Medicare for everyone. So the road show wrapped up its 10-state runin Virginia.It seemed like everywhere we went there were volunteers working on get-outthe-vote efforts and infusing energy into the election process. As we bid farewell to the road, the nurses were set to return to their home states—but not to put their feet up and rest.They were heading home to knock on doors, serve as poll watchers, give rides to polling places, make phone calls, and continue the work so vital to this democracy. Tomorrow, the work begins anew. There is no rest so long as Americans are dying due to the lack of accessible healthcare. Those deaths do not stop on Election Day or simply because one party or the other scores a win. Each and every day, more than 60 American families will bury a loved one because our healthcare system is so very broken. And unless our new leaders, both our president and our new Congress, launch into real healthcare reform efforts with all appropriate haste, the death toll will keep mounting. Changing that reality would be the nurses' true victory. I Donna Smith is a community organizer with CNA/NNOC. W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 13

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