Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/447779
O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 W W W . C A L N U R S E S . O R G R E G I S T E R E D N U R S E 3 FEATU R ES 14 The Battle at Home Soldiers returning home from the Iraq War and other conflicts are showing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in ever greater numbers, even as funding for mental health and other medical care for veterans fails to keep pace. Will we step up to treat, or lose, a whole generation of veterans? And how can RNs help? By Caitlin Fischer and Diana Reiss 22 Picking the Right Fight Allen Fitzpatrick, RN and CNA/NNOC board member, feels good knowing he helps people, at work and with his union. By Bonnie Ho DEPARTMENTS 4 News Briefs Following a federal labor board ruling that classifies charge nurses as supervisors and ineligible for union protections, CNA/NNOC members are pledging to do whatever it takes, including striking, to show employers they won't tolerate any violation of their union rights; as the election enters the final stretch, the Prop. 89 campaign kicks into high gear; Kaiser RNs ratify what is likely the best contract for nurses in the nation; round up of news from across the nation; Check out our 2006 Calif. endorsement list to find out who's a friend to nurses and which initiatives will help working people; more than 500 RNs with Northern California's Fremont-Rideout Health Group vote to join CNA/NNOC; members of the Maine State Nurses Association voted in September to merge with CNA/NNOC. 13 Game Over Passing Proposition 89, the nurses' Clean Money & Fair Elections Act, is the only way Californians can fundamentally change the corrupt political system that works for big campaign donors at the expense of our health, kids, and security. By Rose Ann DeMoro 4 14 Contents on the cover: (From far left clockwise) RNs Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, CNA/NNOC vice president, and Deborah Burger, CNA/NNOC president, stand with Maine State Nurses Association RN leaders Deb Kerr, Linda Desjardins, and Maureen Caristi in Bar Harbor, Maine, where Maine nurses recently voted to affiliate with CNA/NNOC. Photograph by Martin Brown.