A champion of nurses, patients and the people: NNU Endorses Bernie Sanders for President

“What Bernie Sanders’ campaign represents is an opportunity to not just speak truth to power, but to join movements together to change our country,” National Nurses United (NNU) Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro emphasized Monday, to a crowd of cheering nurses. 

The 200-plus nurse members had gathered in NNU’s Oakland, Calif. office for a national conversation with Sanders—also broadcast live to thousands of additional RNs in cities from Des Moines and Chicago, to Kansas City and Orlando. Citing Sanders’ track record on supporting Medicare for all, fighting income inequality, working to end systemic racism, and “the same issues that animate nurses”—DeMoro concluded her introduction of Sanders with a special announcement.

“Today, nurses across the nation join up our movement to heal America with the phenomenon that has spontaneously erupted around Bernie Sanders,” DeMoro said. “I proudly announce that National Nurses United is endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders—friend, human rights champion—for President of the United States.”

A sea of red-clad RNs chanted, “Bernie! Bernie!” as Sanders, ever a man of the people, accepted the nomination by first turning the focus back around on the crowd—and acknowledging the hard work of nurses.

“I am humbled and appreciative for your support.  You are the backbone of our healthcare system,” said Sanders. “On behalf of people of America, I want to thank you for the work that you do.”

Pointing out RNs often do not have adequate support and resources, due to healthcare corporations putting profits over patients, Sanders declared, “We have to change the healthcare system in America. And we have to change boldly and fundamentally the priorities of this nation so that not all our income is going to the top one percent.”

In an hour-long Q&A, Sanders fielded questions from RNs from across the country, fostering a meaningful exchange often punctuated by cheers. Callers asked about the VA system (Sanders supports efforts for VA nurses to organize and would fight back against underfunding/efforts to privatize), safe staffing (Sanders co-sponsors federal ratios bill S 864), access to healthcare (he supports Medicare for all) and other issues that are critical to nurses.

“Our vision is that when people get sick, they should be able to get healthcare, regardless of income because it is a right,” Sanders emphasized. He also fielded questions from press, including his plans for addressing systemic racism (an issue also important to NNU).

“I think the goals of Black Lives Matter are exactly right,” Sanders said, explaining that his campaign would be fighting for real criminal justice reform and to end the “vestige of institutionalized racism in the country,” as well as working toward a vision of economic equality that fully enfolded black lives into a world of increased jobs and expanded access to education.  

Sanders concluded the event by explaining, “The billionaire class is so powerful that no president alone can take them on alone. The way you push forward a progressive agenda is when millions of people stand up.”  

Cheering Sanders’ support for RN issues, nurses concluded the event by taking to their feet—and doing just that.

 

 

National Nurses’ Conversation with Senator Bernie Sanders

Senator Bernie Sanders—a champion of Medicare for all, national nurse-to-patient ratios, collective bargaining rights for RNs, Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street, and more—is inviting nurses to take part in a live, nationally broadcast conversation.

When:  Monday, Aug. 10
3 pm EDT/ 2 pm CDT/ 12 pm PDT

Join in, and you can help shape the role of nurses’ values in the upcoming political landscape.

To be part of the conference call, please RSVP at: www.att-rsvp.com.
Provide conference ID 366260 and then your name, email, and state.
You’ll then be sent the dial-in number.

Watch the conversation LIVE on our website here.

This is an exciting time and hope you can join us Monday. 

Thank you

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Scholarships Available for Women’s Global Health Leadership Courses

As part of the Certificate Program in Women’s Global Health Leadership, we are pleased to announce the Fall 2015 courses Global Women’s Health Movements, Gendered Professions and the Transnational Care Economy, and Health Consequences of Global Trade in Food Commodities, co-sponsored by National Nurses United and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.  The courses will be offered online during the Fall Semester of 2015.  Classes begin September 1, 2015

Full-tuition scholarships are available for NNU members interested in building global solidarity with those who share RN values of caring, compassion, and community.  To apply for a full-tuition scholarship for a course, please submit a short essay (250 to 500 words) describing how the topic of the course will inform your RN patient advocacy.  NNU members may apply for a scholarship for more than one course.  A separate essay is required for each course for which an RN seeks a scholarship.

All interested scholarship applicants should submit their essay via email to WGHL@nationalnursesunited.org with the subject line “Women’s Global Health Leadership Scholarship” no later than Friday, August 14, at 11:59p.m.  Applicants also need to complete and submit this application cover sheet with their essay. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Certificate Program Administrative Coordinator, Randi Pace, at (510) 433–2793 or WGHL@nationalnursesunited.org

This certificate program is of vital importance for nurses as it is the only academic program in the country that honestly assesses the rapidly changing socioeconomic landscape of healthcare in the United States and globally from the standpoint of bedside RNs.  Classes prepare nurses to identify and confront social, economic, political, and environmental forces that place their jobs, livelihoods, communities, and planet in jeopardy. 

Click here to read more about the certificate program.

 

Class Descriptions:

Global Women’s Health Movements (01:988:407)

Global Women’s Health Movements identifies the global institutions and policies that most impact health.  Students will discern how women’s non-governmental organizations have attempted to transform existing institutions and policies of global health governance such that people everywhere can lead healthier and more dignified lives.  The course encourages students to forge new ground by drawing connections among institutions of global governance and women’s health by examining how women’s organizations around the world have fought to actualize universal access to healthcare. 

 

 

Health Consequences of Global Trade in Food Commodities (01:988:412)

Close to one billion people suffer from malnutrition and many more from food deprivation in the 21st century.  As neoliberal trade policies have restructured national economies, new speculation in global commodities markets has limited access to food by the poor.  This course investigates shifting modes of food production as local practices of subsistence agriculture have been replaced by export agriculture and global commodities markets.  The course compares the consequences of these changes for women as consumers in the global North as well as for women as producers of subsistence in the global South.  Examining impacts of global commodities markets on food distribution, diet, and health, the course also analyzes the health effects of the creation of consumer markets for processed foods.

 

Gendered Professions and the Transnational Care Economy (01:988:414)

Gendered Professions and the Transnational Care Economy examines how nursing and other women-dominated professions lie at the heart of what is known as the “care economy.”  Involving work that requires intensive physical labor, person-to-person communication, and spatial proximity, the intimate nature of care work resists mechanization.  In contrast to the production of commodities, the highly personalized labor of care is driven by human need rather than profit maximization.  Focused on the cultivation and preservation of human capacities, nursing and other professions at the heart of the care economy resist routinization and automation.  The course culminates in an exploration of recent efforts to heighten the profit-making potential of the care economy, and it considers the long-term implication of efforts to deskill and outsource care work. 

What are RNs saying about taking courses in the certificate program? 

Ashley Fauls, an RN who received a scholarship, shares her valuable experience of taking courses in the certificate program:

“With the Women’s Global Health Leadership Program, NNU has tapped into something strikingly unique [and] beautiful. As a bedside nurse, I have long felt the urge to take advocacy and care into my community, and—if the opportunity arose—to the world at large. However, the task felt so large, so encompassing, and I was at a loss of where to begin. Through the WGHL program, I have had the honor of obtaining solid education as it pertains to health disparities across racial, gender, economic, social, and continental lines. I have felt waves of empowerment through the course educators’ continuous supply of relevant […] reading/viewing material, and stimulating weekly discussions and assignments. My passion for substantive nursing care has been re-kindled, and new passions are emerging on a regular basis. I have been personally and professionally challenged by this learning, and have been astonished by the number of family, friends, and colleagues who are willing, and even eager, to sit, listen, and learn from this essential information. To any nurse considering participation in the WGHL program, I encourage you to surrender to the nudge and jump in!”  

Another scholarship recipient, Jeff Breslin, RN, agrees about the value of courses in the certificate program:

“My name is Jeff Breslin, and I am a Registered Nurse in Michigan and an advocate for my patients both inside and outside the hospital. I saw an opportunity through this certificate program to expand my knowledge and therefore my ability to advocate for my patients and my profession. I just finished the first two classes in the seven class series and I have to say they were outstanding. The course content and presentation helped to articulate many of the things that I already have seen in my practice as well as delve into new areas that every nurse/patient advocate should be aware of. I looked forward every week to the rich discussion on the discussion boards. The class was made up of many different people from varying backgrounds, which allowed full exploration of the topics at hand. I found myself not only learning but also helping teach some of the other students who have not had as much exposure to healthcare and women’s health issues. I look forward to the next classes in this program and would recommend these to every nurse. This will help take their advocacy to the next level with very informed, very educated information that will help improve their effectiveness not only at the bedside but also in their role as an advocate.”

Jana Siu, RN, a scholarship recipient, shares her experience of taking classes in the certificate program:

“What is amazing about the Women’s Global Health Leadership courses is that they teach you social structures from a grand scale to the individual level, social structures that perpetuate global injustices and human rights violations. Instead of just knowing that these things happen, we learn the ‘why’s’ and the ‘how’s’. Through that, I was able to truly be awakened and gain insight so that I could see solutions for our community. Seeing solutions is crucial to being engaged while living in a society where we are being driven into apathy with the overwhelming amount of information [with which we are bombarded.]  At first I was afraid to take these classes because I will admit that I am not as well-versed as I should be with current events and politics. I feel very different now. As nurses, we are given the opportunities to directly see human suffering through our patients. And yes, the power of touch and empathy are some of our strongest tools, but knowledge is even more so.  Because of these classes, I have gained a wider scope of the power of my profession, which has affected the way I practice, the way I live, and the way I vote.”

Get the Class Flyers Below (PDF):