National Nurses United

Profile:1 2/8/08 3:24 PM Page 19 ers ing a term as treasurer. She was elected to the Board of Directors in 2005. With the expansion in recent years of CNA into the national arena with NNOC, Hoagland couldn't be happier. "I'm excited about where things are at in this country. We're at a tipping point, and I'm glad to be able to work with CNA for big things in a good direction," she says. Natural globetrotter that she is, Hoagland is looking even further, to the global nursing movement. "I think we will eventually go beyond the U.S.—we've already had some involvement with nursing students in the Philippines," she says. Unsurprisingly, Hoagland's passion for healthcare justice means her avid support of CNA/NNOC's single-payer campaign. "It's where I started," she explains, referring to the foreign single-payer systems that first sparked her interest in a health career. "This is the biggest campaign, for me—it's huge, providing primary care to underserved people. It's why I became an NP in the first place." Despite her support for and first-hand experience of single-payer healthcare systems, Hoagland understands the resistance some people feel to instituting such a system in the United States. "It's a matter of fundamentally changing people's view," she says, emphasizing that many do not understand that having a health insurance policy is no guarantee against catastrophe. "Even within activist groups, people can so easily phrase it as 'people need insurance.' People don't need insurance, they need care." Concern over how healthcare relates to social justice has presented itself on Hoagland's front doorstep. In her hometown of Santa Rosa, public health is taking a hit as Sutter Health continues to threaten the closure of its Santa Rosa campus. "It's ethically wrong," Hoagland says of the closure, which is in violation of a 20-year contract Sutter signed with Sonoma County to provide public health services. "I'm glad that our battle against that is providing an opportunity for the nurses and the community to take a stand against Sutter assuming important responsibilities and then pulling out." Two valleys east of Santa Rosa, Hoagland's current home of Napa also provides interesting social contradictions which she shrewdly observes. Although Hoagland enjoys CNA/NNOC representation at the Kaiser clinic where she practices, nurses at the two hospitals in town are not unionized. "One of the problems for me is that sometimes I feel insulated from the community," says Hoagland. "I speak Spanish and take care of a diverse group of community members, but only within the Kaiser system." Hoagland says that living in Napa provides some fascinating anthropological observations. "There are three really distinct communities in Napa," she says. "There is the old guard of agricultural families and workers at Mare Island. Then there are the Latino families who have come to this area to support the agricultural and wine JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2008 industries." Indeed, Hoagland relishes the fact that her sons' high school provided a diverse mixture of children from English- and Spanish-speaking families. In the past 15 to 20 years, she adds, Napa has witnessed the arrival of a third segment of society, "the wealthy who have profited from the tourism and wine industries." Hoagland enjoys the variety, but sometimes wishes that the three segments of her community were more integrated. More than anything, though, she enjoys her role, however limited, in the community, and being a part of her patients' lives. "I have patients I've taken care of for 15 years," she says. "It's hard to walk away from commitments for me." Does that mean she will continue her work with CNA/NNOC's healthcare justice campaigns in the future? "Yes, definitely," she laughs. I Erika Larson is associate editor of Registered Nurse. Profile W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Name: Lauri Hoagland, RN, NP Facility: Kaiser Permanente Napa Unit: Medicine Nursing for: 27 years On CNA/NNOC board since: 2005 Sign: Cancer Pet nursing peeve: Nurses who work against each other instead of fighting collectively Favorite work snack: Rice cakes Color of favorite scrubs: Red CNA/NNOC scrubs Favorite hobby: Before they both went to college, Hoagland attended her sons' sporting events. Now she enjoys hiking and taking in one-act plays. Last book read: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson Special talent unrelated to nursing: Hoagland is a seasoned world traveler. She visited Thailand and Vietnam this fall, and is looking forward to seeing Brazil this summer. REGISTERED NURSE 19

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