Western Governors University (WGU), www.wgu.edu, Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU),  have partnered to provide the union’s 85,000 nurses a new, more affordable means to earn advanced degrees. Under the terms of an agreement with the Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP), SEIU members will receive information regarding WGU’s accredited BSN and MSN degree programs as well as eligibility for a 5% discount for up to two years.

WGU offers online, CCNE-accredited bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for working nurses. These programs are ideal for RNs who wish to complete their bachelor’s degrees as well as those who wish to prepare to become advanced practice nurses or educators by earning a master’s degree. All online, WGU’s programs use an innovative, competency-based learning model. Designed for working adults with prior education and experience, competency-based learning allows students to move quickly through what they already know so they can focus on what they still need to learn.

“This partnership will support the career aspirations of nurses and ultimately equip nurses with deeper skills and expertise, whether at the bedside, in a clinic or health center, or within the home,” said Diane Sosne, RN, MN and President of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.  “This opportunity is more important than ever as nurses strive to deliver the right care at the right time in the right setting for patients.”

In addition to their flexibility, WGU’s advanced nursing degree programs are very great value. With the H-CAP discount, tuition is approximately $6,200 per 12-month year. In addition, scholarships and federal financial aid are available to qualified students.  Furthermore, nurses working for employers who participate in the SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Multi-Employer Training Fund may be eligible for additional tuition assistance and other assistance programs.  Nurses should contact the Training Fund for more information.

Florence, the mother of modern nursing, was called the ‘lady with the lamp’ for her late night rounds among patients. While today’s rounds might not warrant a lamp, they do require an endless checklist of patient needs, often dictated by business priorities instead of the actual needs of our patients.

As our fight to keep patients safe moves from the legislature this year, we refocus our efforts to hold hospitals accountable. We must strengthen our staffing committees and use community education to improve patient safety. And we wonder, what would Florence do if she were here?

Florence Nightingale believed that advocacy for patients was at the core of our mission as nurses and healthcare workers. In fact, during the Crimean war Florence advocated for better care for patients who were often treated by overworked medical staff, while also facing unhygienic conditions and a lack of medical supplies.

I believe if Florence were here to celebrate her 193rd birthday, she would have been pleased that hundreds of us have continued that message of patient advocacy with our work in Olympia to advocate for patients and to lobby legislators to pass our patient safety reform bills. Thousands signed the petition to pass our bills and we flooded legislators with phone calls and emails. We had lots of necessary conversations and got two-thirds of the way there, but in the end we were blocked by legislators who mistakenly aligned with hospital employers instead of patient needs.

She would have also been disappointed, just as we were, that not enough legislators supported our bills to pass them into law. But she would tell us that we can’t stop here. I  think she would agree that we should work to unseat candidates who choose CEO interests before patients’ needs and elect more lawmakers who put patients before profits – especially in the state Senate.

As we ask what Florence would do if she was here, the answer is clear: she’d be side-by-side with us fighting for our patients.

This month as we recognize the important work we all do, let’s look ahead and continue our campaign for patient safety. Whether we make gains during bargaining, strengthen our hospitals’ staffing committees or bring our message to the public, we continue the work of Florence Nightingale through our vigorous advocacy.

By volunteering with community supporters we’ve been able to get the word out to our neighbors about the important work we do at the hospital caring for our community. Support from our other union brothers and sisters across the region and our own time making calls, putting up signs, and educating voters had an impact.

“I’m proud to work at the hospital and I treat my patients like family. The passage of this vote means we can continue that care, and our residents will have a choice to receive their care close to home. We are a community driven hospital, and we will continue to be the resource our neighbors rely on, whether it is for a broken arm or a stroke,” said Valley General nurse Mark Glover.

Valley General CNA Nada Dyson said, “I’ve always thought our hospital had a family feel. This is the hospital I want to retire from. I believe in our doctors, co-workers, and the care we provide in our close knit community. These last few years have been hard with the cuts and the loss of staff but now I know we can rebuild.”

Firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, small businesses, and local leaders rallied behind the hospital to protect vital healthcare services. The former levy rate for Valley General Hospital was among the lowest in the state, putting critical emergency and trauma care services in jeopardy.

“Valley is a valuable resource to our region that benefits all of us,” said Monroe firefighter Kurt Schneider. “Keeping our emergency room and trauma care available is critical, especially for first responders so we have a hospital nearby when seconds count. These results are good news.”

With the successful passage of this levy, we have preserved a full service hospital that will assure quality local care, critical emergency services and continuation of a major economic resource for East Snohomish County.

We need FHS to ensure continuity of patient care by making the transition as seamless as possible.  Our patients know and trust us, their experienced and professional care team, and we want to continue to be there for them.  Our patients also need assurance that FHS will continue to offer a full spectrum of care including family planning and reproductive care.  And our community needs to know that even though control of our hospital and clinics has moved from Burien to a corporate headquarters in Tacoma, our community’s needs will still guide our community hospital and clinics.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members are the nurses and healthcare workers at Highline Medical Center and Highline Clinics.  We are also the healthcare workers at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, a Franciscan Health Systems facility.

As our International President Mary Kay Henry just said: “Today’s announcement creates real hope for the vast majority of Americans who think it is time for commonsense immigration reform and for the millions of hardworking families who live every day in fear of being torn apart at any moment. While this bill represents an initial compromise, we are encouraged by this progress and look forward to working with the Senate, the House and the President to making improvements to it on its way to becoming law.”

The fight for an immigration system that works is far from over. We must encourage Congress to strengthen the bill, and we can’t allow immigration opponents to prevent the proposal from becoming law. We want to make sure the path to initial legal status is wide and inclusive, and we want to make sure unreasonable barriers do not thwart citizenship for the 11 million.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is looking for people who want to fight alongside our members for better working conditions, dignity on the job and improvements in healthcare for all working families.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a bold, democratic labor organization with an activist tradition going back to our founding in 1983 by Group Health Cooperative nurses. Today we are the largest healthcare union in Washington state, with 18,000 members united for quality patient care and good careers in the healthcare facilities and agencies where we work.

Job Description:

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW organizers work with our members to build and exercise power in the workplace and to advocate for a better healthcare system.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW organizers work to raise standards for healthcare workers by identifying, recruiting, developing and motivating leaders in the workplace.

Organizers also build power by organizing non-union workers with a focus on one on one recruiting, house-visiting, and developing organizing committees.

Organizer-In-Training (OIT) Apprenticeship program available for applicants with passion and commitment to justice for working people but without labor organizing experience. OIT Apprenticeship positions are contingent upon successful completion of 1-day training.

Positions available in; Yakima, Spokane, and Western Washington

Qualifications for Organizer:

• Excellent communication skills, good judgment, ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds/cultures, commitment to justice for working people, willingness to work long and irregular hours.

• Candidates with union organizing experience are preferred.

Application Process:

Applicants must submit a current resume, with references and a cover letter expressing what their commitment and interest in the labor movement is in order to be considered for the position.  Resumes and cover letters should be sent to:

Penny Lowry
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
15 South Grady Way, #200
Renton, WA 98057

Email:  pennyl@seiu1199nw.org

Currently many nurses and healthcare workers have to double up on patient loads to cover for co-workers to eat or take needed breaks. Patients may find themselves waiting for care from healthcare specialists and social workers who often have to carry two pagers to cover shifts. Nurses and healthcare workers have been proposing solutions since they started bargaining new contract months ago.

Instead, Harborview has brought new cuts to the table and they haven’t fully addressed our staffing and recruitment and retention concerns. Harborview is our region’s only level 1 trauma care hospital and we can’t afford for it to fall behind on community standards.

“This has gone on long enough,” said Susan Tekola, RN. “Harborview’s mission is to provide exemplary patient care, something we strive to do every day. But we’ve been telling Harborview for months that in order to do that we need the right staff at the bedside. It’s time to get this right,” Tekola said. The nurses and healthcare workers will picket before and after shifts and during their breaks.

At 9:59am on Saturday, March 16, more than 530 workers at Providence St. Peter Hospital marched back to work, linked arm in arm with community and labor supporters.  We had been on strike since Monday and we returned with new resolve to continue their fight for affordable healthcare.  Earlier that morning at 6:59am, 150 of our colleagues at Providence SoundHomeCare and Hospice returned to work after their three day strike.

  “You’ve been out here standing up for all of us.  You care for us.  Providence needs to care for you.  We stood with you this week and we’ll keep standing with you in this fight.”  Lacey City Council Member Andy Ryder

With a total of 700 Providence workers on strike, this week’s action was the largest healthcare workers’ strike since 2004.

Providence has implemented healthcare cuts throughout its 5-state network that raised deductibles to $3,000 for our families.  We have been slammed with healthcare bills and some of us are delaying needed care, skipping necessary medications, and considering bankruptcy filings following just the first three months on these new healthcare plans.

“Providence is taking us backward, not forward. My daughter has gone to a specialist that is out of network for 6 years and I’ve had to pay $500 per month for medications that used to be $40/month.” Lynnda Brown, Social Worker, Providence SoundHomeCare and Hospice, Thurston County

“I had thyroid cancer and have needed scans and blood work every few months.  Since these cuts to effect, I’ve been delaying my scans and blood work because I can’t afford the bills.  It’s scary but I have little choice.” Deborah Tipton, Dietary, Providence St. Peter Hospital

We hope to be back at the bargaining table with Providence St. Peter and Providence SoundHomeCare and Hospice soon to work together to create a healthcare plan that meets our needs.  If Providence continues to insist on continuing the healthcare cuts, we will continue our campaign for affordable healthcare and haven’t ruled out future action.

“We are committed to doing what it takes so our families can have affordable care.  We hope we don’t have to be out here on strike again.  But we can’t live like this, where we’re choosing between paying our bills and getting care.”  Bob Wilson,  OR Tech, Providence  St. Peter Hospital

Stand with Us for Affordable Care

When Providence cut employee healthcare on January 1, it took healthcare funds away from front-line care and out of the South Sound, diverting the money instead to pad the bottom line.  A company making more than $200 million in profit and paying its CEO $3.1 million can afford to do better.

We need to send a strong message to Providence—a 5-state healthcare giant—that our community won’t take its healthcare cuts, its cuts to our time off with our families, or its unfair labor practices.

We cannot allow the second largest employer in Olympia- a healthcare employer receiving public funds- to roll back access for its own employees and lower the standard for affordability.

3 ways to support affordable care at Providence

1. Sign our online petition at www.DontCutCare.com
2. Reach out to your faith leader, a local business owner, or an elected official and tell them about this campaign.  Ask for their support for affordable care at Providence.  Contact us for a toolkit.
3. Send a letter to the editor to the Olympian calling on Providence to restore affordable healthcare.

 “I work a second a job just to be able to afford my family’s healthcare,” said Abbey Bruce, a CNA at St. Peter Hospital. “My husband has cystic fibrosis and needs to take enzymes to absorb his food. This used to be covered, but now it costs our family $300 a month just so he can digest his food. I’m also going to school to become a nurse and we’re paying for it ourselves. Things are really hard for us right now. We work in a hospital, and it’s outrageous that any of us have to work a second job or worry about how we’ll afford our care.”