Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/322740
Under the common theme "Healthcare is a human right," RNs in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United States, among others, marched and rallied for goals such as safe RN staffing ratios; a Robin Hood Tax to fund and protect against privatization of public health services; passage of legis- lation to help patients and hold the insurance and hospital industries accountable; and bans against environmental health hazards. Chicago registered nurses marked the day by joining with community activists to tour sites that stored petcoke and calling on Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago City Council for a moratorium on petcoke activities. Petcoke, short for petroleum coke, is a residue left over from refining heavy crude derived from tar sands oil—what the Keystone XL pipeline will be carrying from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico. Chicago is allowing companies for the next two years to store pet- coke outdoors in huge, open piles—some as tall as six stories—where the black dust that is laced with sulfur, metals, and other volatile compounds can blow across low-income communities, causing major health and respiratory problems. Rolanda Watson-Clark, an RN at the Robbins Health Center, a Cook County public clinic on Chicago's South Side, shared a story about being evacuated last August when a plume of petcoke dust gusted over the neighborhood. "I looked outside and saw that the sky was black with what looked like smoke," said Watson-Clark. "Nurses and patients were exposed to the petcoke dust. When we were breathing, you could feel that the air quality was bad. It was hard to A P R I L | M AY 2 0 1 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 17 we do it s Week with advocacy for the world's patients Counter clockwise from left: Washington, D.C. nurses hold May 12 rally for safe staffing ratios bill; RNs protest Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that makes it easier for corporations to enter South Korea's healthcare market; California RNs rallly in support of pro-patient legislation