National Nurses United

News Briefs CALIFORNIA W hen a series of wildfires raged through Northern Cali- fornia in early October, regis- tered nurses at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital found themselves in the position of both first responder, helping to evacuate patients, and disaster victim, with many losing their homes. As nurses do, colleagues at surrounding hospitals and from neighboring cities stepped up to meet everyone's needs. All told, around 80 patients had to be evac- uated from Sutter Santa Rosa and 130 patients from Kaiser Santa Rosa, with many of the Kaiser patients taken to Kaiser San Rafael. According to news reports, the October wild- fires killed at least 44 people and hospitalized at least 185, forced 90,000 people to evacuate from their homes and resulted in the destruc- tion of an estimated 8,900 structures. "In the face of this disaster, with RNs also being personally impacted, we're so proud of the heroic nurses who helped in the process of evacuating patients to surrounding hospi- tals," said Deborah Burger, RN, who lives and works in Santa Rosa and is copresident of National Nurses United and California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organ- izing Committee. "And we also know our nurses at those surrounding hospitals band- ed together and worked extra hard to care for their colleagues' patients." One of the most dramatic news videos from the fire was of medical workers evacuating a patient in a gurney loaded with drips and lines as intense flames loomed in the background. One of those staff was ICU RN Julayne Smith- son. "The hospital was filling with smoke for about two hours before we finally evacuated; it was quite the disaster," said Smithson, who works at Kaiser Santa Rosa. Smithson, who recently moved to Santa Rosa from Indiana, lost a new home she had just purchased a few weeks earlier. She worked all night and then the morning of the fires, then simply went to a different hospital to volunteer because she didn't have a home to return to. "I worked there until 2 p.m, and then one of the managers let me into her home." Smithson was not the only one receiving help from fellow nurses. "Because we are like family, [Kaiser San Rafael nurses helped] to put up our Santa Rosa colleagues, with room and board," said Beatrice Immoos, an RN at Kaiser San Rafael, explaining that nurses who were not scheduled and nurses from other cities also stepped up to help. Some nurses even evacuated patients in their personal cars. "Many nurses came in off shift, nurses stayed over to make sure we're getting adequate coverage. It was so touching to see nurses come all the way from San Jose to help us. I can't thank them enough. Nurses help one another." Kaiser Santa Rosa chief nurse rep Cyndi Krahne, RN, is one of the nurses who had to evacuate the day the fires first erupted. "Suddenly [everything] was engulfed in fire. I've never experienced something so terrify- ing in my life," said Krahne. "Everyone at the California Nurses Association, all the nurs- es, all the people from Santa Rosa and surrounding communities, everyone…made something bad a little bit lighter." In the aftermath of the fires, nurses stress how climate disruption exacerbates the risk and severity of these events. "Climate change is an issue that nurses are concerned about because with increased frequency and severi- ty of disasters, it's really going to change how we're able to deliver care," said Burger. In fact, two Registered Nurse Response Network nurse volunteers who were helping hurricane victims in Puerto Rico had to fly back early to deal with their own emergen- cies since they lived in the fire zone. "How many nurses can you send on disaster relief and try to keep up?" —Kari Jones kaiser, sutter santa rosa rNs help evacuate wildfire patients Some face devastating personal losses 2017 Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation Publication title: National Nurse. Publication number: USPS 0807-560, ISSN 2153-0386. Filing date: 10-1-2017. Issue frequency: Five times per year, with combined issues in January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August-September, and October-November-December. Number of issues published annually: 5. Annual subscription price: $40. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 155 Grand Ave., Oakland, Alameda County, California, 94612. Contact person: Lucia Hwang. Telephone: (510) 273-2200. Complete mailing addresses of head- quarters or general business office of publisher: Same as above. Publisher: California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, 155 Grand Ave., Oakland, California, 94612. Editor: Lucia Hwang. Managing editor: None. Owner: California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, 155 Grand Ave., Oakland, California, 94612. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount: none. Tax status: Has not changed during preceding 12 months. Publication title: National Nurse. Issue date for circulation data below: July-August-September 2017. Extent and nature of circulation: Registered nurse members of CNA/NNU and subscribers. For the following, the first number represents the average number of copies of each issue during preceding 12 months and the second number represents the number of copies of the single issue published nearest to filing date. Total number of copies (net press run): 133,262; 151,500. Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 99,601; 117,805. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 5; 0. Paid dis- tribution outside the mails including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other paid distribution outside USPS: 0; 0. Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS: 35, 31. Total paid distribution: 99,641; 117,836. Free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 8,009; 132. Free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 48; 0. Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS: 0; 0. Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail: 0; 0. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 8,057; 132. Total distribution: 107,698; 117,968. Copies not distributed: 25,564; 33,532. Total: 133,262; 151,500. Percent paid: 92.52%; 99.89%. Paid electronic copies: 0; 0. Total paid print copies plus paid electronic copies: 99,641; 117,836. Total print distribution plus paid electronic copies: 107,698; 117,968. Percent paid both print and electronic copies: 92.52%; 99.89%. Information in this statement will be published in the October-November-December 2017 issue of this publication. 14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 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 O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7

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