ANA Call for Nominations: Committee on Nursing Practice Standards/Reference Committee
Notable Nurse Nellie Wade
Nellie Ann Beatty Wade, who turned 90 years old last month, is the oldest practicing nurse in Florida. Wade, who was first licensed as a registered nurse in Florida in October 1952, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania on September 21, 1923 to John Edward and Nellie Agnes Beatty. She came from a large family and […]
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
The month of pink has come again! And travel nurses, like so many other healthcare workers, have an added stake in the fight against breast cancer. All month long, people across the nation will take part in bake sales, 5k runs, and penny wars to raise funds and awareness of the number one health-related fear for women. Luckily, there are a number of ways that you can join the fight again breast cancer and show your support at work:
Pink scrubs: If it wasn’t obvious already, you could wear pink scrubs or, even better, pink ribbon scrubs! Many brands, including Cherokee and Gelscrubs offer pink ribbon apparel and, of course, if you purchase your Breast Cancer scrubs at Scrubadoo, we donate 100 percent of the proceeds to research. Now you have no excuse!
Badge Reel: A simple and easy way to add a little Pink Ribbon flare to your scrub outfit is to invest in a supportive badge reel. Put your ID on one of these and everyone will know about your stand in the fight against breast cancer.
Pens: Although it may sound trivial, replace all your pens at work with Pink Ribbon pens. Think how many times people see you make notes or scribble down a reminder. Now you can make a statement each time you put pen to paper!
Organize your co-workers: If you want to go above and beyond this month, talk to your co-workers and organize a group to participate in a 5k or some other fundraiser. Not only is a great option to get you and your co-workers active, but it offers a great way for you all to meet up outside the office and relax a little. Plus, if you’ve recently started a new assignment, what better way to get to know everyone?
Heroic Fight by Sutter Nurses Shows That Workers Can Fight and Win
In a political and economic climate so heavily influenced by Wall Street, corporate CEOs, and extremists like those who shut down the government in an effort to block even the modest reforms of the Affordable Care Act, it’s sometimes hard to remember that it is still possible for nurses and working people to fight and win.
Well, thank goodness for the 3,000 RNs, and a few hundred techs, who work at Sutter hospitals and facilities in Northern California. They have just delivered an emphatic message to nurses and other workers everywhere. Stand up for yourselves, stand up for the public interest and the public will be with you and you can prevail.
It took nine strikes and a refusal of the RNs to buckle — much to the shock of the company executives. By the final strike, seeing support grow among the nurses with each walkout, Sutter even gave up sending the media false reports of who was allegedly crossing the picket lines.
Alta Bates Summit nurses and techs celebrate contract victory
Over two years ago Sutter threw down a gauntlet for our members at greater San Francisco Bay Area facilities. Emboldened by rollbacks for many other workers across the country and what they saw as a favorable corporate and anti-union environment, Sutter dumped a list of some 200 concession demands on the nurses.
The takeaway list was breathtaking in its detail and scope, targeting virtually every area of the collecting bargaining agreements won by nurses and defended over a period stretching back over 65 years to the first collective bargaining contracts for a nurses union in the country.
Most disgracefully, Sutter was insisting on eliminating paid sick leave essentially forcing nurses to work when sick, and — trumpeting a loophole in the Affordable Care Act as a pretext — terminating all health coverage for nurses and techs who work less than 30 hours per week which would have ended health benefits entirely for hundreds of RNs, techs and their families.
That was just a start. Sutter also stubbornly insisted on massive cuts in health and retiree benefits, elimination of seniority rights, big reductions in holidays, vacations, maternity and pregnancy leave, less disability coverage, elimination of safety training for RNs, and deep pay cuts for nurses who work weekend, evening, and night shifts.
They also sought elimination of positions of RNs who provide resource support and make clinical assignments, threatening safe staffing for patients, giving preference for travel nurses over regular staff nurses who live and work in local communities, promotion of bogus “patient satisfaction” and “wellness” programs, and imposed discipline on nurses at one hospital for exercising their legal rights by participating in one of the strikes.
All from an enormously wealthy employer that has rolled up nearly $4.2 billion in profits since 2005, has the highest net patient revenue per employee of any U.S. hospital system, and gives 28 top executives more than $1 million in pay packages every year.
Sutter assumed that its vaults of gold, an economic climate of recession and far right attacks on unions and workers, and the victory of many employers in forcing rollbacks in pay, health benefits, retirement security, and workplace rights, would pave the way for their assault on RNs.
‘Stand United’ — and the nurses did during their long fight
But Sutter RNs demonstrated a different path, and an unquenchable model of how to fight hard to protect standards for their patients, their colleagues, and the future generation of nurses who follow. And they won, defeating the 200 concession demands and discipline measures, and even won some contract gains, exemplifying in their long campaign the best in the nursing profession and in the labor movement.
Words can not describe the amazing spirit, courage, and dedication of these fighters in a battle against an arrogant and powerful employer determined to extract its pounds of flesh. The nurses demonstrated through unity and a willingness to stand up and say “no,” that it is possible to hold the line and win, and let workers everywhere know there is hope in this difficult era for all.
Follow Rose Ann DeMoro on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NationalNurses
Travel Nurses Day Celebration Begins!
Travel Nurses Day is coming up next Friday, October 11, 2013. But the celebration has already begun over at TravelNursesDay.com.
Medical Solutions, a pet friendly travel nurse staffing company, has launched this brand new holiday as a way to honor and celebrate hardworking Travel Nurses. Nurses Week is fun and all, but why not have a holiday dedicated specifically to Travel Nurses?! What you do is specific and special; it is certainly deserving of its own holiday!
Starting now through the big day, you can visit the website and play a variety of games that have been constructed just for this occasion. You’ll see some games you know and love (like Pictograms, a Photo Observation Game, and Anagram Puzzles) so it will be great entertainment, plus there is a bounty of prizes! A total of 15 $50 gift cards to Spa Finder, Zappos, and Starbucks will be awarded for playing the games. Also be sure to enter the raffle for your chance to win a $250 Scrubadoo gift card.
Travel nurses rock and it will be a fun day (and week leading up to it … ) to celebrate. Don’t forget to visit TravelNursesDay.com where you can get started and join in on the fun now. Thanks so much, travel nurses, for all that you!
Now what are you waiting for? Go get your game on — and good luck!