National Nurses United

NATIONAL NURSE,™ (USPS publication permit number 0806-560/ISSN 2153- 0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, March/ April 2016 Volume 112/2 is published by National Nurses United, 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. It pro- vides news of or ganizational activities and reports on developments of concern to all registered nurses across the nation. It also carries general coverage and commen tary on matters of nursing practice, community and public health, and healthcare policy. It is published bimonthly, with combined issues in January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September- October, and November-December. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California. POSTMASTER: send address changes to National Nurse, ™ 155 Grand Avenue, 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, Kate Usher you know all those quotes about how the journey, and not necessarily the destina- tion, is the most important part of the experience? Never have we felt that sentiment to be truer than when we sit back and evaluate our nurses' and organization's leadership in the Bernie Sanders campaign and in the ongoing movement for social, economic, racial, and climate justice. Sometimes it's hard to see it, but in losing, we still won. We won because we refused to be cynical and accept the sta- tus quo. We won because we challenged the powers that be and inspired others to join us. We won because, even though it was hard, we chose to do the right thing. We won because we showed that fighting back is possible and necessary. We forced the country to talk about topics and issues that have not been discussed from a progressive viewpoint on a national stage for generations: staggering poverty; the struggles of working-class families due to student debt, an embarrassingly low minimum wage, and no guaranteed healthcare; deathly racism toward African American, Lati- no, and other people of color as well as toward immigrants; and the idea of humans as an endangered species on earth if we continue to allow the fossil fuel industry to call the shots. Yes, our "journey with Bernie" was formative and historic. We learned so much along the way and were joined by so many allies in our cause for a more humane and just world. The challenge we have now is to keep moving forward, to keep scaling those mountains and crossing those raging rivers, to never stop. In this issue, you can read all about the last portion of our Bernie campaign and about the People's Summit, an unprecedented meeting we called to gather the country's progressive movement, to do just this. Everyone is committed to fighting the fight, because there is no other option if you care about righting injustice, and we all care so deeply. And the other thing we learned about ourselves and that the country learned about nurses is that we RNs, on this long road, are the guides. People trust us and will follow us. We will be out front and take care of our fellow travelers along the way. Know this and be the leaders our country needs us to be. Thank you to each and every one of you for your contri- butions. We'll see you at the next stop. 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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