This year’s Nurses Week was sadly darkened by the death of five caregivers in a tragic limousine fire on the San Mateo Bridge. Governor Jerry Brown issued a statement recognizing the incredible contribution of nurses who “work hard every day to make our state a healthier, happier place.” These caregivers, who dedicated their professional lives to others every day in our hospitals and clinics, lost their own unexpectedly in this horrific event. Neriza Fojas, RN, and Michelle Estrera, RN, both worked at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Jennifer Balon, LVN, and Anna Alcantara, LVN,  worked at Fruitvale Healthcare Center, and Felomina Geronga was a laboratory technician at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.

While questions remain about how the fire started, we mourn the loss of these women who were dedicated caretakers, loyal friends and loving mothers.

The members and leaders of California Nurses Association/National Nurses United extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of these women for their loss.

To honor them and assist their families, we have established a fund.

“What better way to recognize nurses and those with whom they work than to honor these women who cared for the patients and each other,” said Zenei Cortez, RN and co-president, California Nurses Association.

“I just want to say thank you to the nurses for all your support, all your prayers,” said Abner Alcantara, husband of one of the deceased nurses, Anna Alcantara. Abner, a postal carrier, lives in San Lorenzo and has two children, Andrei, 14, and Arianna, 8.

Please donate using the button below:

If you’d prefer to make a donation by check, please make it payable to, “CNA Nursing Angels Family Fund” with the memo line, “Victims of the San Mateo Bridge Limo Tragedy” and send to 2000 Franklin Street Oakland, CA, 94612.

Please note that donations to this fund are not tax deductible.

Celebrate National Nurses Week by Helping Nurses win Safe Staffing Ratio Legislation.

Let’s Also Vote NNU’s Executive Director, RoseAnn DeMoro a Top Healthcare Leader.

National Nurses United, the nation’s largest organization of nurses, today greeted the re-introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois – appropriately during Nurses Week – that would set specific limits on the numbers of patients each RN can care for in hospitals throughout the U.S. Let’s show strong RN solidarity for this exciting national legislation and statewide ratios campaigns below.

Please add your name to three letters supporting safe staffing ratios:

1. Sign the letter supporting the DC Patient Protection Act
   (The DC Patient Protection Act)
2. Sign the letter supporting Illinois RNs in their quest for safe staffing
   (The Hospital Patient Protection Act, H.B. 0012)
3. Sign the letter to Congress requesting support for the National Ratios Bill
   (The Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Quality Care Act, H.R. 2187)

LET’S VOTE RoseAnn DeMoro A top leader in healthcare again in 2013

Modern Healthcare’s annual ranking of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare honors individuals in healthcare who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential individuals in the industry, in terms of leadership and impact. “We are incredibly proud to see RoseAnn recognized and honored year after year for both her outstanding leadership and accomplishments and the historic achievements by our national nurses’ movement and organization,” said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN.

VOTE HERE for RoseAnn DeMoro and 4 others of your choice

Results to be published in the August 2013 issue of Modern Healthcare.

Thank you so much for all that you do for your patients, your RN colleagues, and your profession!

• Learn more about the national ratios bill here
• Read more about statewide campaigns for ratios

Happy National Nurses Week!

Jean Ross, Karen Higgins, Deborah Burger
NNU Co-Presidents and Proud Registered Nurses

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As you may know May 6-12 is National Nurses Week.

I am a Registered Nurse at Affinity Medical Center and although this is a week to recognize nurses, I would like to thank the people of Massillon and the surrounding area for the privilege of allowing my colleagues and me to care for you and your families.

Sometimes, it’s only a few hours we get to know each other and then there are times our contact is much longer.

There are many of you who I have had the pleasure of sharing a laugh with, and others I have been honored to share the tears of final grief with. Our job comes with great responsibility, but there is also an enormous amount of satisfaction when at the end of the day we know we have given all we could, selflessly.

Our profession is constantly changing and evolving, but always know that, you — the patient — is what drives us. There is research that shows when a nurse exceeds four patients there is a 7 percent increase in mortality for every patient a nurse has beyond that on a medical surgical or medical telemetry floor. This is just one of the challenges we are trying to achieve again for you, the patient.

They call health care an industry. I worked in a factory at one time, and I must disagree.

In health care, you don’t shut things off at lunch or at the end of the shift, and as nurses we know we must be ever vigilant and that the knowledge and care we provide must be of the highest excellence, regardless of profits. Although we have an employer, our loyalty and our legal duty lies with our patients.

I again want to thank the community for their support and allowing us into your lives. We, in turn, commit to continue serving you to the very best of our abilities.

Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses out there and to the rest of you, thank you.

Bob McKinney, RN
Massillon