National Nurses United

Rose Ann DeMoro Executive Director, CNA/NNOC Emergency Measures Our RN Response Network classes are mobilizing RNs to tackle the larger health crisis. i f yo u bu i l d it, they will come. Starting this year, CNA/NNOC began holding a series of 45 workshops around the country to educate registered nurses about our disaster relief project, the RN Response Network (RNRN), and about nurses' special role in advocating for systemic healthcare change so that all Americans can regularly access the care they need to avert the worst in an emergency. By all accounts, the meetings have been a resounding success. Nurses are flocking to the day-long classes and the events have attracted extensive media coverage from all over the nation. Nurses are excited and inspired about proactively preparing to prevent the kind of human suffering they see on their television after every hurricane, tornado, tsunami, or earthquake. "There is a huge need for an organization like RNRN, who can cut through red tape and put the full complement of an RN's skills to work at the scene," said Ann Hathaway, an RN from Burke, Va. who attended the March 21 session. At each class, nurses are briefed about how RNRN, now more than 4,000 RNs strong, is creating a broad geographic database of volunteers ready to help whenever the next crisis hits. RNRN handles all the emergency licensing, placement, travel, and logistics. The program's next step is to develop local networks of RNs and continue to recruit additional volunteers. But the most important lesson nurses gain at these classes is how they can individually, collectively, and socially advocate to reform our profit-driven healthcare system, an industry that has weakened our public For more information on joining RNRN and registering for upcoming classes, visit www.RNResponseNetwork.org. MARCH 2007 health infrastructure and shuts out those who are most vulnerable in a natural disaster. When you only get the healthcare you can pay for, and public agencies and the government are in such a state of disarray that they aren't able or willing to help, you've set the stage for the man-made disaster we witnessed in New Orleans and other Gulf states after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. The 325 RN volunteers we sent to Gulf hospitals, clinics, and mobile units in 2005 did their best and certainly saved many lives, but the healthcare crisis for most of the people in these states had started long before the storms struck. Studies show that about half of Hurricane Katrina evacuees over age 18 did not have health insurance. Forty percent were identified as physically disabled or having a chron- Castillo, our RNRN director. "Our current for-profit model leaves these large gaps of uninsured who are exposed at times of disaster, get hit, and ultimately are left to fend for themselves." Our instructors report that nurses attending the courses, especially those working with low-income communities in the southern states, really understand the socioeconomic and political connections the class is trying to draw. In fact, they are grateful that an organization such as RNRN and CNA/NNOC is teaching what they live day to day. Small signs of hope and recovery, such as our RN network and volunteer efforts like the Lower Ninth Ward Health Clinic in New Orleans, do exist, but for the most part, the suffering continues. It's been nearly two years since Katrina, but New Orleans resi- The most important lesson nurses gain at these classes is how they can individually, collectively, and socially advocate to reform our profit-driven healthcare system, an industry that has weakened our public health infrastructure and shuts out those who are most vulnerable in a natural disaster. ic illness such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease. Our volunteers can certainly attest to these findings. They saw patient after patient who had never seen a doctor, nurse, or dentist in their life. They saw untreated hypertension, sky-high blood sugar levels, case after case of chronic, severe asthma. The experience shocked and motivated many RNs to look for the underlying cause of this poor health. Nurses who had their head in the political sand were jolted to attention. They eventually realized that poverty, and the failure of the United States to offer guaranteed, single-payer healthcare to its residents was largely the root of this horrific suffering. "One of the main things we look at in the class is healthcare financing," says Bonnie W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G dents still have few dependable places to turn for medical services. A recent Los Angeles Times article reported that "citizens are becoming sick and dying at a more accelerated rate prior to Hurricane Katrina." The number of deaths may have grown by more than 40 percent compared to figures before the disaster, and the number of available hospital beds in the city is still about half what it used to be. Nurses have a professional responsibility to treat the injured and alleviate suffering. But there's no need to wait around for the next disaster to hit before we fulfill those duties. Let's act to guarantee everybody the healthcare they deserve now. I Rose Ann DeMoro is executive director of CNA/NNOC. REGISTERED NURSE 9

• Cover