National Nurses United

keep an underinsured heart patient, then insisted on per- sonally riding with him to the new facility after Kaiser agreed to transfer him because she wanted to see with her own eyes that he would get the care he deserved. "Oh, I could do anything for anybody, but not myself," said McVay. "That is, until Jim [Ryder] and RoseAnn got a hold of me. Ryder, who was the staff person in charge of supporting Kaiser nurses, and DeMoro believed in McVay's abilities and repeatedly thrust McVay into leadership roles. She rose to the challenge. Before long, McVay was elected in 1995 and again in 1997 as vice president of the Califor- nia Nurses Association, then in 1999 and again in 2001 as president. In 1995, McVay helped pass a decision by CNA to disaffiliate from the American Nurses Association (ANA). ANA was (and still is) basi- cally the national version of the old CNA, and the staff nurses could not justify forwarding millions of dollars in bedside nurses' dues toward a group that did not work in their interests. The nurses were successful, freeing up resources to further unionize nurses, conduct education campaigns, and push public healthcare policy reforms. One of the nurses' top, hot-button issues was establishing a num- ber for the maximum number of patients that any one nurse could be assigned, RN staffing ratios. It took several tries over almost a decade, but RNs were ultimately successful in winning passage of A.B. 394 in 1999. "Before the ratio law came in, on my hospital's medical floor it would not be unusual for a nurse to have 10, 15, even 20 patients," said McVay. "You just couldn't cover everything that you were supposed to be covering. You couldn't get to the patients when they needed you. When I was working on the cancer floor, you'd have 30-something patients. And on night shift, you were it." McVay has a fond recollection of being in the kitchen cooking when she received the phone call that then-governor Gray Davis had signed the bill after much hemming and hawing. "I can't remember the exact person who called, but she said, 'Kay, you won't believe it. He signed it.' I was in Seventh Heaven. I hung up the phone and started yelling, 'Yahoo!' I was so excited." Though she had retired from ICU bedside nursing in 1996 after a 37-year career, McVay never stopped working to improve the nurs- ing profession and working conditions for nurses. During the years following passage of the staffing ratios law, when the state was developing regulations for implementation, McVay continued to shepherd the process and make sure the vision of true staffing ratios was realized. From 1996 to 1998, she was instrumental in support- ing Kaiser nurses through a tough series of strikes through which they won unprecedented standards and benefits—improvements that Kaiser nurses enjoy to this day. Even in "retirement," McVay continued working for nurses, 22 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 J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 Kay McVay would have wanted any tribute made to her to be made instead to helping nurses help patients. If you wish to make any type of contribution in her memory, please consider donating to the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) fund: secure.actblue.com/donate/california-nurses-foundation-1

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