National Nurses United

been successful in preventing deskilling of nursing in several countries because of our global action. Karen: Being the voice for nurses and patients and not backing away from fights on their behalf. And continuing the work we are doing to protect patients, nurses, and the public with legislation and actions on safe staffing, the Robin Hood Tax, and Ebola and infectious disease safety in the workplace. Jean: Pressing to enact the Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation so we can have the resources we need as a nation for jobs, health- care, education, and tackling wealth disparity and poverty which have such a harmful effect on people's health. We will also continue to work for ratio legislation nationally and at the state level, Medicare for All with a single standard of care not based on ability to pay, and a safe and healthy environment, as that has such a huge effect on people's health and on the planet. Q. What is the greatest challenge facing nurses and patient care today? What is your approach to addressing this problem? Deborah: The greatest challenge facing nurses and patient care today is the attempt by the healthcare industry and hedge fund managers to restructure nursing and health- care to increase their profits. Through the massive attempts to restructure nursing care, not just in the hospital setting, but in home health, clinics, and outpatient surgery centers, the healthcare industry is trying to use the least regulated settings to replace nurses with lesser-skilled and educated workers. This harms our patients. We are committed to a national campaign to prevent the deskilling of the nursing profession. Our "Insist on a Registered Nurse" campaign even caught the attention of the information technology industry; they know what happens when computers don't work right and were alarmed that computers were making patient care decisions. Karen: The challenge is continuing to take on the hospital industry's big business legis- lators who put profit before patients and safety. We need to continue to challenge them in all areas in any way we can. Jean: Convincing nurses of the power we can have by working together. Our education program, with classes now attended by hundreds of nurses around the country, is a key to our incredible success in addressing the challenges facing nurses and patients, and so is involving all of our members in that effort. Martha: The focus on the bottom line by the market approach to healthcare rather than the focus on providing care to each other as a right in a decent society. We need to protect, improve, and expand Medicare to all in the United States and we need to help our international allies to defend their exist- ing public health systems. Q. How can NNU members be more effec- tive patient advocates, at the bedside, and in the public arena? Karen: By being full union members, by providing members with the support and tools they need to be the voice to advocate for themselves in their workplace, by being more active in local politics, and by empha- sizing why it is important to work with other local activists and groups. Jean: Education. It must be by showing how it's done, whether by utilizing your collective bargaining contract, sharing what works, or listening to nurses who are reluc- tant to participate. Most nurses, once they've been exposed to our program, see a direct connection between their work at the bedside and public advocacy. Martha: Members need to become active in NNU. It is no longer enough to advocate for our patients at the bedside. We need to advocate for our patients in our communities. We need to work collectively on all fronts to make sure we will still have the right to speak up for our patients. We need to align ourselves with our communities, to work with and share our communities' concerns for all of our well-being. Deborah: We started the Main Street Campaign with the intention to highlight the growing destruction of our communities and the desperate need for real nurses' solutions to the problems we were seeing while trying to take care of our patients. The politicians were not only not coming up with solutions, but making it worse by bailing out banks and other financial institutions. We knew that just being a good nurse would not address the problems that were a national manmade crisis. Working with other groups internation- ally, we incorporated the Robin Hood Tax into the Main Street campaign as a real solution to funding: healthcare for all, jobs with dignity, quality public education, and a healthy environment. Q. What is NNU's role in working with other labor, environmental, and community organizations? Why is that important? Jean: Right now RNs enjoy more public trust than any other group. We should be able to use that, share it with like-minded allies by association, to help achieve the goals we share. Martha: We need to work with all who are trying to build a more just society because this is the best way to achieve it. If we aren't on the side of the people and are seen to only advocate for our own immediate economic interest, we will not be successful. Deborah: Tending to sick patients' symp- toms at the bedside isn't enough to maintain J U N E 2 0 1 5 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 5 * From the NNU founding convention, NNU's top priorities: • Advance the interests of direct-care nurses and patients across the U.S. • Organize all direct-care RNs "into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the healthcare industry, governments, and employers." • Promote effective collective bargaining representation to all NNU affiliates to promote the economic and professional interests of all direct-care RNs. • Expand the voice of direct-care RNs and patients in public policy, including the enactment of safe nurse-to-patient ratios and patient advocacy rights in Congress and every state. • Win "healthcare justice, accessible, quality healthcare for all, as a human right." (Continued on page 6) From left to right: Copresident Deborah Burger, RN; Copresident Karen Higgins, RN; Secretary-Treasurer Martha Kuhl, RN; Copresident Jean Ross, RN

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