Activities for nurses week?

[uyf]

Okay, so what does your hospital (or other workplace) have planned for nurses week?

Anything planned that has a little more substance than the usual plastic flashlights, or $1.50 sunglasses giveaways?

Wouldn't it be nice to see nurses on TV that week telling it like it REALLY is?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could do an activity which proved to ourselves nurses CAN stand-up and be counted?... like some sort of demonstration?

Why aren't nurses out there more in the public eye educating the public as to what we go through?

Help me out here, am I missing something? Wouldn't be the first time (smile)!

[-jt]

Yes! You missed a great time last year! Nurses have been all over the place doing exactly what you just said - especially during last years Nurses Week - and getting results with more and more legislators supporting the laws we need to get passed to improve our situation. If you do a search on this website, you will find a lot of posts from last year describing what was happening in many states & in DC. Mostly theyre on the Nurses Activism/Politics section here. Nurses have been using Nurses Week to educate the govmnt powers-that-be and the public in a big way.

During Nurses Week last year, there were simultaneous RN Lobby Days and rallys going on at state capitols all over the nation. The state nurses associations sponsored them with the same message to the legislators and public - safe staffing levels, ban mandatory ot. There was a lot of media attention on these rallys and nurse legislative events and lots of news articles about nurses.

The ANA's national poster for last years nurses week was a photo of a nice pretty cake with one of those red circles around it with a red line thru it (like the no smoking sign) & the words "for Nurses Week, WE WANT SAFE STAFFING!" That poster was a free download from the ANA website and was hanging in hospitals and other facilities all over the country.

You can probably do a search for last years nurses week on your state association website & see what nurses in your state did that week. If you want to participate in Nurses Week rallies in your state this year, just contact your state nurses association or visit their website for the information. You dont have to be a member to participate.

Also, did you miss the big nurses week rally in DC last year held by union nurses? Unionized nurses from around the country went to DC with 1,000 pairs of nurses old shoes, lined them up on the steps of Congress & told the lawmakers FILL THESE SHOES! News photos of this event can be seen at: http://www.nursealliance.org/staffing/staffing/nurses_stand_up.cfm

There is another DC rally planned for this year.

Details for this 2-day event are at: http://www.nursealliance.org/staffing/nnw_new.cfm

Following that demonstration in DC during nurses week last year, tha ANA held an RN Lobby Day in DC in June for all nurses and in which nurses from this BB participated and got in there with Congress to educate them on our issues - mainly safe staffing and correcting the "shortage" of nurses. Congress learned from us that this is not a shortage in numbers of nurses right now - its a REFUSAL of nurses to work in jobs with the current unsafe conditions - and how they can correct these conditions (like banning mandatory ot nationally). Im sure there will be another event like this one this year. For details check back at: http://www.ANA.org

Ideas and tips for nurses to use to promote Nurses Week to the public, educating your community, your local newspaper, your local town government on the importance of nurses and what we do can be found at:

ANA's National Nurses Week Media Kit-

"Nurses Care For America"

http://www.uannurse.org/pressrel/nnw/

Once there just click on the links that interests you. Have fun.

ps

Nurses Week is May 6 - 12

"The History of National Nurses Week"

http://www.uannurse.org/pressrel/nnw/nnwhist.htm