Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198096
Contents FEATURES 10 Meet the New SEIU At its June convention, SEIU delegates adopted a program of anti-worker initiatives that position the union to expand, but at the expense of member and RN representation and democracy. 12 A Labor of Love 10 Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro has dedicated over twenty years of her life to empowering Registered Nurses 14 Hostile Takeover Rita Valenti, a registered nurse at Grady Health System, explains how a starvation diet of funds and unrelenting corporate pressure forced Georgia's biggest public hospital to go private this year. What's the future for public institutions like Grady? By Rita Valenti, RN 18 Following Her Lead UC San Diego RN Janice Webb loves to teach and nurture new nurses, and has parlayed that passion into mentoring a whole nurses' movement as a CNA/NNOC board member. By Erika Larson DEPARTMENTS 12 4 News Briefs Fed up with the private insurance industry, thousands champion Medicare for all on June 19; Northern California communities rally around Sutter RNs; Texas RNs Testify in Favor of Ratios; Bills in California and around the country to track in 2008; Modesto, Calif. RNs win new contract; 800 Pa. nurses avoid strike, ratify new deal; Ohio nurses take steps towards safe staffing legislation; Maine nurses fight for contract improvements. 9 Not So Golden Years Caring for an aging parent is unimaginably hard, and having to fight health insurers to get needed care makes it even tougher. By Rose Ann DeMoro 18 o n t h e c o v e r : Missy Gorbet, RN, from Corpus Christi, Texas (left), and Robert Marth, RN, from Fremont, Calif., demand single-payer healthcare at a June 19 rally in San Francisco. JUNE 2008 W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 3