I am that nurse. The outspoken one. The unfiltered voice within the room. The one all the opposite nurses secretly pray will lastly converse up on the employees assembly, tackling “that difficulty” we have been griping about for weeks however lacked the heart to deliver up with our chief. I am the fearless one, detached to what folks would possibly assume. The one who’d tackle the chief nurse’s choices and views head-on. The confrontational pressure unafraid to name out nonsense when the stakes are excessive. I am that nurse. You realize the kind. Perhaps you are one too.
Blame it on my mom for elevating me to be that nurse. She dragged my little sister and me to protest the Chilly Conflict and the usage of nuclear bombs–standing on prepare tracks, leaping fences right into a Ronald Reagan rally, releasing a banner that screamed, “Our youngsters want BOOKS not BOMBS!” Activism runs in my veins. I did not have a reputation for it till just lately, listening to Karen Walrond describe on a regular basis activism in her ebook, “The Lightmaker’s Manifesto.” It is like a thread weaving by means of my life and my profession as an expert nurse–advocating for sufferers, and now, discovering a calling to advocate for nurses. I care deeply about nurses.
One thing snapped inside me in March 2022 when RaDonda Vaught, a nurse in TN, was criminally charged for a deadly remedy error, primarily resulting from systemic failures by the Vanderbilt College Medical Heart. This verdict was on the tail ends of the pandemic, the place I witnessed nurses sacrificing their lives for our communities. It felt like a slap within the face, a closing betrayal that etched in me what Rebecca Love stated, “We went from being referred to as heroes to zeroes to criminals.” I began questioning why that is occurring and why nurses aren’t talking up and combating again. Extra importantly, I seemed inside and realized it was time.
Time to ACT. Sufficient with the anger, the loud complaints, the infinite processing and dialogues. Sufficient phrases. Sufficient place statements. Sufficient acknowledgments. Sufficient.
Do one thing, Shanel. Take motion that brings change. Make an affect, large or small.
And would not you understand it, nearly like dominos had been completely aligned, the correct timing got here. An e-mail from the Colorado Nurses Affiliation inviting on a regular basis nurses to hitch Advisory & Networking Groups (ANTs). I signed up for the Office Advocacy ANT and discovered what it means to be a political nurse–a actual one. I attended the CNA Authorities and Public Coverage (GAPP) committee since final summer season, understanding the Colorado legislative session, assembly lobbyists, and the function CNA performs in nurse advocacy by means of laws. I’ve seemed up who my native legislators are (you possibly can too–it’s tremendous simple!) and even met nearly 1:1 with my state consultant, Brianna Titone, to introduce myself as a nurse. I attended the American Group of Nursing Management (AONL) digital Advocacy Day coaching, gaining sensible tips about talking with native legislators and a greater understanding of state and federal authorities procedures in drafting, reviewing, and passing laws. I’ve achieved my studying, created tables to trace proposed payments geared toward defending you and me.
All this from merely signing up for an ANT. Take one motion to develop into a political nurse in 2024. Select any of the avenues I’ve explored within the final yr and see what occurs. As I participated within the Office Advocacy ANT this previous yr, I’m extra activated than ever to rally nurses and empower them to take motion alongside me. I do not need to do it alone. My private mission assertion is reworking: ACTIVATE NURSES TO DO GOOD.
Colorado nurses, it is time to stop speaking about it, writing about it, and publishing it in nursing journals that the broader public (heck, even nurses) do not learn. Cease posting place statements on our web sites and sporting buttons that merely sign. In America, we do not have authorities by the bulk; we now have authorities by the bulk who take part (unknown writer). It is time to ACT.
Shanel Martens, MSOL, BSN, RN, NPD-BC