National Nurses United

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (ISSN 2153-0386 print /ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, October 2015 Volume 111/7 is published by National Nurses United, 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612- 2908. It provides news of organizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general cover- age and commen tary on matters of nurs- ing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is pub- lished monthly except for combined issues in January and February, April and May, and July and August. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. To send a media release or announce- ment, fax (510) 663-0629. National Nurse™ is carried on the NNU website at www.nationalnursesunited.org. For permission to reprint articles, write to Editorial Office. To subscribe, send $40 ($45 foreign) to Subscription Department. Please contact us with your story ideas They can be about practice or manage- ment trends you've observed, or simply something new you've encountered in the profession. They can be about one nurse, unit, or hospital, or about the wider landscape of healthcare policy from an RN's perspective. They can be humorous, or a matter of life and death. If you're a writer and would like to contribute an article, please let us know. You can reach us at nationalnurse@nationalnursesunited.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR RoseAnn DeMoro EDITOR Lucia Hwang GRAPHIC DESIGN Jonathan Wieder COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Charles Idelson CONTRIBUTORS Barb Brady, Gerard Brogan, RN, David Schildmeier PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro national nurses United held its triennial convention this October, and we could not be more proud of this organi- zation and our registered nurse members. At the conference, we gathered to discuss and vote on critical organizational positions for NNU and, by extension, the national nurses' movement, from affirming that corporate healthcare is anti- thetical to the best interests of our practice and our patients, to endorsing presidential can- didate Sen. Bernie Sanders, to taking a stand against the fos- sil fuel industry's perpetuation of our climate crisis and for environmental health justice. So many of our RN delegates gave such moving testimonies about how the resolutions we voted upon applied directly to their own lives, their families, their communities, and their patients. No doubt about it, we are the most progressive, visionary group of registered nurses in the nation and, again, we are so proud and inspired to fight with you all. You can read more about the convention in this issue of the magazine. In this issue, you can also find coverage of two young nurses who also inspire us and give us hope. One is oncolo- gy nurse Jana Siu, one of the first graduates of the Women's Global Health Leadership program that we run with Rut- gers University and which helps students understand the larger global forces behind the public health of communi- ties around the world. You can read more about the pro- gram and Jana's journey in this issue. The other RN is Allysha Almada, a courageous and ener- getic young nurse who was fired by her employer for want- ing to unionize her colleagues. As Allysha puts it, the hospital was trying to silence her, but she had the last word because this October she was invited by the White House to attend a worker summit and spoke on a national platform about how important it is for all workers, particularly nurs- es, to be able to unionize and take collective action to pro- tect patient safety. She even was able to hand deliver a special present to President Obama, a stethoscope with the engraved words "Listen to nurses," on behalf of National Nurses United. Meanwhile, we know so many of you are out there organizing to help Bernie make it to the White House. Thank you. As the year is about to draw to a close, it's a good time to take stock of what we have done, and what still must be done. No matter what, we are glad to be doing it together with nurses like you. Deborah Burger, RN | Karen Higgins, RN | Jean Ross, RN National Nurses United Council of Presidents Letter from the Council of Presidents Stay connected FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/NationalNurses TWITTER: @RNmagazine, @NationalNurses FLICKR: www.flickr.com/nationalnursesunited YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/NationalNursesUnited DIGITAL MAGAZINE: NationalNurseMagazine.org

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