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Massachusetts Nurses Association RN Board Member Responds to Boston Bombing Victims

Betty, who was on the ground to help victims after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, was working at the medical tent at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday, and she was there to respond and care for the victims when the bombs exploded. “I never had to run out to victims before where one of them could have been someone I knew, a member of my family,” she wrote in an email after the event.

Massachusetts Nurses Association

Global Day of Action by Nurses, Healthcare Workers in 13 Countries

United call for Robin Hood Tax--Major nurse and healthcare union organizations marched, rallied, and held other actions in 13 countries Tuesday in the first coordinated global day of action in a call to stop the harmful effects of austerity measures, cuts in health care services, improved patient care, and economic healing and recovery.

Global Nurses United

200 Kaiser RNs Rally to Protest Downgrading of Care for New Oakland Hospital

More than 200 Kaiser Permanente RNs rallied outside the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center Thursday afternoon to sound a public alarm about patient care reductions the HMO giant is proposing for its new Oakland facility which is expected to open this summer. Waving signs that mocked Kaiser’s multi-million dollar “Thrive” campaign with an RN adaptation: “Kaiser executives: Our patients should thrive not be deprived,” the RNs described substantial problems with short staffing and cuts that come at a time when Kaiser is making record profits and adding 95,000 new enrollees through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

By Deborah Burger, RN

Climate Crisis a Public-Health Emergency Too: Why Nurses Will Join Climate March Sept. 21

For registered nurses the climate crisis is a clear and present public-health emergency as well as a creeping bomb for our planet -- and they draw a direct link between extreme forms of energy extraction and the horrific impacts they see on human health.

Deborah Burger, RN via The Huffington Post

Nurses Stand in Solidarity with Steelworkers Amid Safety Concerns

NNU is especially alarmed at the serious threat for workers and residents of local communities near the refineries posed by unsafe staffing levels, excessive worker overtime demands, and the reports of daily occurrences of fires, emissions, leaks and explosions that put tens of thousands of people in danger.

National Nurses United

Massachusetts study shows RNs are overloaded

In conjunction with the beginning of National Nurses Week, a new study of registered nursed in Massachusetts released May 6 by the MassachusettsNurses Association establishes that hospital administrators are assigning too many patients to registered nurses, resulting in significant harm and even death for patients.

David Schildmeier

Nurses for Bernie community party in Fremont, CA.

Over the past few months, in living rooms & community centers across the country, nurses have been gathering to host parties in support of Bernie Sanders. Nationwide we’ve been coming together to talk about Bernie’s candidacy and brainstorm ways we can help. This past weekend, around 150 nurses and community members came together for a Nurses For Bernie Community Party in Fremont, CA.

National Nurses United

DNC Platform Committee Members Offended By Key Single-Payer Healthcare Advocate

The executive director of a major nurses union, which provided substantial support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, spoke to the Democratic platform committee on June 17. She advocated for single-payer universal healthcare in the United States.

Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof

Stop the greed

As a registered nurse who has worked many years in a San Francisco hospital, I see firsthand how patients’ conditions are aggravated by their inability to pay for their medications. Making choices between paying for their meals, rent and medicine is a day-to-day reality for many.

Jane Sandoval, RN writing in the San Francisco Chronicle

What are Safe Staffing Ratios and why are they so important to all of us?

Many Americans may be surprised to know that California is the only state in the country with mandatory limits on the number of patients a nurse can be assigned at one time. Now nurses across the country are pushing for national legislation.

Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio