Nurses do not get enough pay and often work under terrible conditions. Yet we, the patients, depend upon nurses even more than on doctors when we are sick in the hospital. Our nurses replace our family members in helping us survive the miserable experience of being confined to a hospital bed.
I remember my experience more than 20 years ago when I had heart surgery. It was in a non-profit hospital. The nurses made me feel confident about the upcoming surgery, and after surgery, they pleasantly helped me gain my strength. The doctor visited for 2 minutes; the nurses were always there. The head nurse visited me - and all other patients - at the end of the day just to chat.
Nurses are one of our most important resources. Yet with the hospitals' new emphasis on business they are treated as nuisances. Business considers them to be part of their cost, so they reduce their number (among other nasty things). Is it any wonder that nurses have joined the nurses associations across the country?
One of these associations, the California Nurses Association, was concerned that there were not enough nurses in California hospitals to properly serve all the patients. So they sponsored a law that would increase the nurse-to-patient ratio in these hospitals. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor, working for the interests of the hospital businesses, came out against this law. He called the nurses "special interests" and claimed in speeches:
"I'm always kicking their butts."
Here the nurses were trying to improve the health of Californians and the governor was calling them names. Some time back, the nurses would have accepted their lot. But today, Rose Ann DeMoro is the executive director of the California Nurses Association. She got the nurses to fight. Nurses were present and made themselves heard at almost all Schwarzenegger events.
For obvious reasons, Californians sided with the nurses, and Schwarzenegger's popularity fell. There were other factors involved in the fall, but DeMoro and her nurses were the primary reason. DeMore declared:
"He [Schwarzenegger] was on a roll, he was unassailable and people told us we couldn't take him on. We take extreme credit for his poll numbers droppng like a rock."
Schwarzenegger follows the lead of George W. Bush and other prominent Republicans when he champions business - all kinds of business - at the expense of everyone else. Business is holy and must be glorified. Those who earn wages - not only nurses, but educators and policemen - are "special interests" and can be completely disregarded.
Everybody seems to think that business is more important than people who do the work that makes the business succeed. We have been brainwashed by the business leaders. We glorify them and their money and we disregard what we - mechanics, teachers, policemen, and yes, nurses - accomplish.
This is an ode to nurses and their leaders who are doing their best to make U.S. a more healthy community. I especially want to honor DeMoro and the California Nurses Association for leading the way.
