Registered Nurse magazine not only covers the activities of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, but also strives to produce hard-hitting news features and thoughtful analyses about nursing and the real ills plaguing the U.S. healthcare system.

You’ll find true stories from the front lines of care given by the nation’s 2.5 million registered nurses, as well as articles about nursing practice, public health, healthcare policy, and the healthcare industry. Through our reporting, we hope to inspire a movement toward a humane and just healthcare system for all. The magazine is published 10 times per year by CNA/NNOC, with combined issues in summer and winter.

FEATURES
12 Can’t TasteHer OwnMedicine
It’s one of the ultimate ironies of our broken healthcare system:Healthcare workers like registered nurses often can’t access the care they or familymembers need.Meet TinaMarino, an Arizona RN, and other healthcare professionals who are having trouble getting the care they help provide. By LuciaHwang

16 National Emergency
The 9/11 rescue workers featured in SiCKO still fight to access healthcare.What kind of system abandons taking care of those who took care of us? By Donna Smith

18 Celebrating Advocacy
On the occasion of her 65th birthday, CNA/NNOC celebrates the life and work of colleagueHedy Dumpel, RN, JD

DEPARTMENTS
4 News Briefs
Arizona RNs rally in Phoenix for ratio bill; CNA/NNOC nurses across the country are organizing to win ratios in their states; RNs approve third strike against SutterHealth;Maine shop stewardsmeet for first time to strategize; Ventura county RNs approve new contract; Illinois House committee passes stricter rules on insurance companies over appeals and denials.

11 The RealMotivations BehindMandates
How financiers are using individualmandates to escalate the debt crisis and threaten your healthcare benefits. By Rose Ann DeMoro

On the Cover: On Valentine's Day, bearing banners asking lawmakers to not break "nurses' and patients' hearts," Arizona RNs rallied in support of a nurse-topatient ratio bill, HB 2041. Photograph by JaclynHiggs.

Download Registered Nurse Magazine, March 2008

PDF format, 2.85MB, 20Pages.

REGISTERED NURSE,™ (ISSN 1932-8966) The Journal of Patient Advocacy, March 2008 Volume 104/2 is published by  California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, 2000 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2908.

LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS

It’s always terrible to meet patients who can’t access the healthcare they need, but it really gets downright absurd when nurses and other healthcare workers can’t receive the treatments and care they provide for a living.

That’s the situation of TinaMarino, an ICU RN living in Phoenix. She’s 28, doesn’t smoke, and is generally healthy, but suffers from chronic constipation brought about, she thinks, by completely confusing her body when she started working night shift as a new nurse some years back. She’sworking for an agency right nowthat doesn’t provide health insurance, and is having a heck of a time finding coverage in the individual market because of her condition. Right now she’s uninsured and has to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket whenever she needsmedical attention, like she did this winter. It shouldn’t be this way. Tina can only shake her head when she thinks how ridiculous it is that she would be driven to financial ruin if she were to need the bedside care she gives her patients every day. And she’s just one of more and more insurance horror stories we’re receiving from healthcare providers through our website, GuaranteedHealthcare.org.

The bottom line you draw from reading all of these patient experiences is that private health insurance just doesn’t work. People need services, but the system’s set up for insurance companies to spend as little as possible on them in order to maximize their profits. That’s why they deny treatments, jack up premiums and deductibles, reject applicants they view with the slightest measure of health risk. It’s also a reason why forcing Americans to buy health insurance, which has been proposed at the national and state levels, is a foolish move. For more on the motivations behind the “individual mandate” to buy insurance, check out CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro’s column in this issue. Through our stories, we’re going to keep hammering this point home until we convince the country that the easy, simple solution would be to adopt a single-payer system, like expanding Medicare for everybody.

Moving to another issue close to nurses’ hearts, CNA/NNOC members staged a historic rally in Phoenix February to drum up support for a ratio bill pending in Arizona. As one RN said on the bus, “I don’t think Arizona’s seen anything like that!” It’s not just Arizona. Ratios are sweeping the nation. CNA/NNOC currently has ratio legislation efforts under way in nearly half a dozen states. Check the news briefs for a breakdown on what’s happening where.

We can’t mention everything in this issue, but if you’ve ever met the inimitable Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD and our National Chief Director of Nursing Practice and Patient Advocacy, or taken one of her classes, you’ll enjoy reading the profile we’re running this month in celebration of her 65th birthday and all the good work she’s done for nurses, patients, and CNA/NNOC.

Until next time.

Deborah Burger, RN | Geri Jenkins, RN
MalindaMarkowitz, RN | Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN
CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents

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