Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198597
NewsBriefs:Public 7/9/07 1:21 PM Page 5 OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT, AND BOTTOM: DAVID BACON; TOP RIGHT: JACLYN KELLYE HIGGS Clockwise from top left: Nurses march to a special screening of the movie SiCKO at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, Calif.; CNA/ NNOC President Deborah Burger, RN testifies alongside filmmaker Michael Moore at a Senate briefing; RNs wave their SiCKO fans and cheer at a June 12 rally for guaranteed healthcare. JUNE 2007 W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G and poorer ones as well. In those national health or single-payer systems, the government collects and disburses funds to compensate providers for caring for all residents, regardless of employment status, preexisting conditions or medical history, age, or ability to pay. (See SiCKO review for more on the film.) The message of the film and campaign resonated with registered nurses, who see daily the fallout of insurance company control over healthcare. "I'm here to support single-payer universal healthcare," said Joanne Thompson, a telemetry charge RN at West Houston Medical Center in Texas. "I have relatives in the health insurance industry and they told me when they get claims in their inbox, their goal is to get it in the out-box without getting paid." Mercedes Nunez, an RN at Kaiser Permanente in Fremont, Calif., is tired of watching still vulnerable patients discharged so soon under insurance company pressure to limit stays. "I wish they could stay just a day or two longer to get a little stronger," she said, adding that patients should receive equal care no matter whether they are rich or poor. "It's not okay to treat people differently. You don't have to die. That's not human." After the packed special screening at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento, nurses gave Moore a standing ovation for so movingly depicting the real lives devastated by insurance companies. They are counting on the general moviegoing public to be as outraged as they were and, through their organizing, to convert some of that anger and energy into a real movement for guaranteed healthcare. "As a nurse, I knew all the horror stories, so that wasn't a shock," said Burger. "But it was startling to have it told on the big screen. We need to use this movie to tear down some of the myths that have been built up over the years about national healthcare." —staff report REGISTERED NURSE 5