Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/781086
NATIONAL NURSE,™ (USPS publication permit number 0807-560/ISSN 2153-0386 print/ISSN 2153-0394 online) The Voice of National Nurses United, October-Novem- ber-December 2016 (Volume 112/5) is pub- lished by National Nurses United, 155 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612-2908. It provides 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 five times per year, with combined issues in January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August-September, and October-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, PHOTOGRAPHY Jaclyn Higgs, Tad Keyes, Choppy Oshiro, Kate Usher as one year closes out and we transition into the begin- ning of a new one, it's always a good time to take stock of life, of work, family, and the state of the country and the world. So when we consider this organization and all the work that we registered nurse mem- bers do to advocate for our- selves, our patients, and society, we could not be more proud of all we have accomplished in 2016. Registered nurses are recognized annually by the Ameri- can public, over and over again, as the most honest and ethi- cal profession in the United States. And not without good reason. Led and supported by our organization, National Nurses United, we are constantly out in the world—whether it be on our hospital floors, on the streets, or in the halls of Congress—fighting for the public good. We want universal healthcare for our patients, good paying-jobs for our neigh- bors, quality and free education for all our kids, clean air, water, and food for our communities, and a livable planet for the entire world. And we want much, much more because we know that these are the factors that determine the health of an individual, of a neighborhood or community, of a country, and of the globe. In this issue, you can read all about one example of how RNs fight for public health away from the bedside. Volun- teers with RNRN traveled to North Dakota to help provide first aid to activists camped out on a Sioux reservation there to block construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. It was an intense but once-in-a-lifetime experience for these nurs- es, and we are privileged to have been able to send them. Additionally, there's lots of other good news in this issue, with new RNs unionizing under NNU and many nurses successfully bargaining good, solid contracts all across the nation, from Maine to Florida to California. But let's not pretend that all is well. We are witnesses to and participants in a pivotal time in American and global history; our country, and others as well, is truly fighting within itself over the direction we want to take. Do we allow the worst socioeconomic inequality in modern times to per- sist, or do we organize working people to challenge the sta- tus quo and take back the wealth that corporations have spent decades stealing from us? As nurses in our communities, we know how bad it is out there for our patients, our family members, our neigh- bors. We know the answer. Yes, the work is hard. Yes, the work is daunting. But the work is just that: work. It's doable. So let's get to it. Deborah Burger, RN | Jean Ross, RN National Nurses United Co-presidents Letter from the NNU 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