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The caravan is being organized by RNs Working Together, a coordinatingcommittee of the AFL-CIO, and will first protest at the corporate headquartersof ARH in Lexington, then go walk the picket lines in Harlan, Hazard,Middlesboro, McDowell, and Williamson, Kentucky and Beckley and Hinton, WestVirginia. In Beckley on Saturday, the nurses will participate in a fooddonation for the nurses on strike in West Virginia.
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NNOC/CNA's delegation is led by Geri Jenkins, RN, a member of the Councilof Presidents, and includes RN members from NNOC/CNA's Kentucky affiliate, theNurse Professional Organization. The nurses are joining the solidaritycaravan because they know that the key issues of the strike-patient safety andsafe staffing-are vital to quality patient care and central concerns in ournation's attempt to deal with our healthcare crisis.
"These nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia aren't striking for themselvesor for their patients," said Geri Jenkins. "They are striking to improve thecare that every patient in this country receives. When a patient enters thehospital, they should know that there will be adequate staff and safe patientcare procedures to take care of them. Whether they're in Appalachia oranywhere else, we will not stand by and watch hospital owners cut corners onpatient care in order to pad their bottom line."
Representing 75,000 registered nurses in all 50 states from coast tocoast, the National Nurses Organizing Committee and California NursesAssociation is the nation's largest and fastest-growing union of direct-careRNs. To learn more about NNOC/CNA or our fight for guaranteed healthcare onthe single-payer model, visit us at http://www.CalNurses.org.
SOURCE National Nurses Organizing Committee and California Nurses Association
