National Nurses United

Profile 2/14/07 4:18 PM Page 15 Better assigned to different southern and eastern states across the country. Dema-ala moved alone to Atlanta, Georgia. She initially had a hard time adjusting to the language difference. Southern accents were hard to understand, and conversely, people often asked her to clarify her speech. She came to the hospital with 35 other Filipina nurses, and found they were the only ones assigned to rotate their schedule every two weeks, working days, then nights, then evenings. "We found we had a hard time sleeping," she said. "By the time we got used to the two weeks, we had to change again. We didn't know when to wake up and when to sleep." Dema-ala and another nurse went to the head nurse to see if one of them could have a regular night shift and the other a regular evening shift. They succeeded in their request, and three months later were sleeping and working better. Some of the other nurses spoke to their head nurses and got their requests granted as well. She also had to adjust to differences between nursing in the Philippines and the United States. One major change was patients' families' more limited involvement in patient care. In the Philippines, family members were encouraged to help. They changed the patient's bed linens, helped the patient to the bathroom, and helped the patient walk through the hallway. "As a nurse we didn't have to do all that because there was always family helping," said Dema-ala. "Contrast that to the U.S. where we do everything. All of that and more. So I think it's more stressful here because when a patient is admitted in the hospital the family thinks the nurse has to do everything. And when you don't have a nurse's aide working with you, as an RN, that's all you're going to do for the whole eight to 12 hours." Soon Dema-ala was on the move again. She contacted her nursing school friends in their separate states, and together they decided to move and reunite in Southern California. They chose to work in different hospitals to get the same days off, and organized a support network—taking vacations together and turning to one another to discuss nursing issues. Since none of them worked in a union hospital, their benefits and salaries were all similar. That was all to change after she moved to Glendale in 1981. Over the years as Dema-ala worked under increasingly trying circumstances, she became determined to fight and unionize her hospital. "I'm proud that my hospital got organized and became part of the union, for present and future employees," she said. "They will always have the benefits we got now, and improvements at a later time." After she helped unionize her hospital, she continued to work to support the union and informed nonunion nurses from other hospitals about the benefits of joining. She took classes offered by CNA to continue her education and to better understand the organization herJA N UA RY/ F E B R UA RY 2 0 0 7 self. She attended board meetings with friends, and eventually became a board member in 2002. But despite Dema-ala's leadership role as a board member, she says one of her proudest achievements is becoming a member of CNA, along with nearly 70,000 other registered nurses. "I'm proud of what we're doing right now," she said. "I'm proud of the fact that CNA is doing something with healthcare with the single-payer system. I'm proud that CNA is in the forefront of it." Apparently other people are proud of the nurses, too. At one May 2005 Los Angeles rally Dema-ala attended to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's roll back of ratios, she remembers how the crowd applauded RNs from CNA/NNOC. "That rally made me so emotional," she said. "When we CNA nurses got to Pershing Square, other members from other unions were already there. When we came, they just opened up and let us in. They were all clapping and screaming, 'Let the nurses in!' They were so happy to see us." ■ Bonnie Ho is an intern at Registered Nurse. Profile W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Name: Relie Dema-ala Facility: Glendale Memorial Medical Center Unit: Medical Surgical Nursing for: 35 years On CNA board since: 2002 Sign: Gemini Pet nursing peeve: Understaffing Latest work accomplishment: Getting signatures for clean money elections Favorite Work Snack: Chocolate Color of Favorite Scrubs: Purple Favorite hobby: Reading Favorite music: Neil Diamond Latest book read: The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown Secret talent unrelated to nursing: Crocheting REGISTERED NURSE 15

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