National Nurses United

be appointed to the board of directors in 2001 to represent Region 3. Since then, she's been reelected twice. She says the process of organizing Sierra Vista and serving on the board has been a "huge education" for her. Stoddard grew up in the San Fernando Valley, the daughter of a stay-at-home mom and a father who worked in sales. When she attended Sonoma State University, she made friends with people who were active in the home birth community and decided she would like to become a midwife. Stoddard wanted to be able to practice in hos- pitals, so she went to nursing school at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque with the goal of becoming a certified nurse midwife. Life intervened, howev- er. After marriage and having two children, she decided after all that she didn't want the responsibility and hours that midwives have and stuck with labor and delivery. Stoddard's father was very lib- eral in his politics, and she leaned toward his views, but says she did- n't know much at all about unions or activism on an organizational level. "Having our own union and coming to the meetings and being introduced to other nurses and seeing how far-reaching the issues CNA addresses are, and how everybody's dealing with the same issues in their institutions – it was a real eye opener," says Stoddard. Since most nurses are strug- gling with the same issues, she believes it gives CNA knowledge about how to formulate solutions from a big-picture perspective. "If hospital owners and corporations are doing the same thing in each hospital, we should be able to figure out a way to fight back," says Stoddard. To do so, Stoddard believes strongly in acting collectively and working through CNA to achieve nursing goals and the ultimate goal of universal, single-payer healthcare so that RNs can care for everyone regardless of insurance status or coverage. "Usually as an RN you feel so isolated," she says. "But all you need to do is get together with this big group and you can make all these things happen. Nurses need to realize how powerful our unity can be. Look at what just happened with the governor and our ratios. We beat him and now he stopped. That should be a huge lesson to everybody." The biggest challenge, she says, is still to educate nurses and get them involved. Everybody is busy working and raising kids, and young nurses in other parts of the country don't even make the connection between California's better working conditions and its higher unionization rate. Stoddard says that often, when she talks to traveler RNs working at Sierra Vista, she learns that they have gotten jobs by crossing picket lines—one of the cardi- nal sins in her book. Many are from the South, where they have no right to advocate for patients. One time, she discovered a trav- eler RN she really liked had worked as a scab. Stoddard has decid- ed to gently confront these people by striking up conversations asking them why they enjoy working in California and why they think conditions are better here than where they're from. "I tell them that we got these things by having a union, by going on strike," says Stoddard, "and that when they cross picket lines, they're hurting nurses like me, and they're hurting themselves by working against what it is they like about it here." The key to roping in nurses to the cause, she says, is expo- sure, exposure, exposure to the wider picture of healthcare. Unionizing a hospital is a great way to do it. CNA's education class- es are another way. Coaxing a nurse to come to any CNA event, whether it's a rally, a protest, or a hearing is a good introduction as well. "I just feel sort of privileged to be where I am in CNA," says Stoddard. "What we are doing is so worthy, so about real people, about the old American dream, about do better, live well. It's a crazy world where we have to fight for the right to improve instead of being under the thumb of this corporate world. When you are feeling like a downer, it's really cool to be around a bunch of peo- ple who have really good ideas and then act on them." Lucia Hwang is editor of California Nurse. Profile Name: Sherri Stoddard Facility: Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center Unit: Labor and delivery Nursing for: 22 years On CNA board since: 2001 Sign: Gemini Pet nursing peeve: When hospitals call off staff just to make more profit Favorite work snack: Dark chocolate or popcorn Last work accomplishment: Bargaining Sierra Vista's latest contract this year Color of favorite scrubs: Not picky, just wears hospital blue Favorite hobbies: Reading and gardening Favorite book: Anything by Barbara Kingsolver Favorite movies: To Kill a Mockingbird and Rabbit-Proof Fence Special talent unrelated to nursing: Line drawing and making different crafts. 18 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E Feature Story "Nurses need to realize how powerful our unity can be. Look at what just happened with the governor and our ratios. We beat him and now he stopped. That should be a huge lesson to everybody."

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