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Profile:3 11/16/07 8:34 AM Page 22 Born to Nurse After high school, genel morgan followed her lifelong dream to be a nurse. Decades later, the art of caring for others still defines every aspect of her life. by eri ka larson G enel morgan, rn was destined to be a nurse from a very young age. "My father broke his leg when I was five years old, and I took care of him," she explains. "That's where I first got the idea that I wanted to be a nurse." Rather than being a fleeting childhood fancy, Morgan's conviction stuck—and intensified—as she grew older. The San Francisco native began taking prerequisite courses in high school, and was lucky enough to be encouraged to reach even farther by her guidance counselor. "I had planned on going to a diploma school, but he really steered me towards earning my BSN," Morgan remembered. "I really resented him for it at the time, but I'm really glad in the end that I had that experience, and that he pushed me to work even harder." Although Morgan is well known at CNA/NNOC for being a longtime board member and being active in several crucial fights in both the hospital and in the city streets, she didn't always jump to get involved in activism. She was, as she puts it, "a child of the '60s," and was studying nursing at San Francisco State College (as San Francisco State University was then known) while consciousnessraising and dissent in the Bay Area reached fever pitch, but never became directly involved. "I just wanted to get to class so I could finish my senior year and graduate, so I never got involved. I really regret that now." Morgan had more than enough chance to make up for those quiet college years, however, when she became involved with CNA/NNOC. She first joined the bargaining team about "20, 25 ago," and while she was happy to stay there, opportunity knocked in 1998. Or rather, opportunity barged in and grabbed her: "There was a vacant position on the board of directors, and Alice Patrick twisted my arm. She kept saying 'it's only for six months.'" Morgan reluctantly agreed, served her six-month term, and then decided to run in the next election. And the next one. And the next one after that. "I've been on the board ever since. It's like Rose Ann [DeMoro] likes to say," she chuckled, "heroes aren't made, they're cornered." She may have been a reluctant director at first, but Morgan has grown to love her position among CNA/NNOC's leadership and the frontline action it brings her. "I have come to appreciate our actions, our fighting for the right thing," she said, despite (or perhaps because of ) the fact that CNA/NNOC's fights are "usually David and Goliathtype situations." Morgan is not the only one keeping track of her growth from reluctant stand-in to confident agitator. "I've known Genel for over a decade, and it's been really exciting to see her step up into a significantly strong leadership position at her facility and within the organ22 REGISTERED NURSE ization," CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents member Deborah Burger, RN says. "She's done an excellent job of identifying issues that are a threat to our patients and the nursing profession." Morgan's favorite campaign with CNA/NNOC so far has been the ratio campaign. "It was a rollercoaster ride," she said. Indeed, the ratio campaign covered nearly a decade and included the wild ups and downs that come with the territory of any hotly-contested but necessary reform. Morgan was there from the early struggle of explaining the importance of ratios to the public to the triumph of success, and the fight with Arnold Schwarzenegger to hold onto that W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G NOVEMBER 2007