National Nurses United

J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 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 13 ong before the name Bernie Sanders or the expression #FeeltheBern captured the hopes and imaginations of millions of Americans in this year's presidential race, National Nurses United registered nurses had already been fighting tirelessly for years to achieve most of the top agenda items on his platform: expand and improve Medicare to cover everyone, socioeconomic equality, environmental health justice and a reversal of climate change, a $15 per hour federal minimum wage, and a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street to help pay for it all—to rattle off just a few. It's the reason why nurses, America's most trusted profession, endorsed Sen. Sanders for president and why NNU members across the nation have been pas- sionately involved in the grassroots campaign to get him elected. Suddenly, a presidential candidate is talking consistently on the national stage about the very same things nurses have been wanting and working decades toward, and attracting mega crowds doing it. The move- ment that NNU members have been building and nurs- ing is gaining momentum faster than anyone expected, and nurses naturally and rightfully continue to play an integral role in the Sanders campaign and in the longterm future of organizing to achieve the progressive, systemic change that the country's working people need. "I do believe that this is a historical moment and I'm excited about the Bernie campaign because it allows us to talk about the issues that I strongly care about," said Jo Ann Lingle, a public health RN with the Cook County Department of Public Health who works in Chicago neighborhoods with high infant mortality and low birth weights. "Everything is related. I see struggling young families where the mothers and the fathers have to both work and the mothers with high-risk infants have to go back to work. That's not family values, paid family leave is. We have to nurture the nurturer. That's real family values and that's what Bernie supports." NNU nurses clearly recognize that this is the time to go "all in" on the Sanders campaign, and have been working on overdrive on multiple fronts to move the electorate in key swing states with the earliest primaries L Maine Using their big, red #BernieBus as a mobile voter education station, NNU RNs are making critical inroads for the Sanders campaign in key swing states while colleagues back home phone bank, rally, and more. BY MARTHA WALLNER

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