NEW YORK NURSE: June 2008
On Sept. 26 and 27, NYSNA will hold its annual business meeting as a freestanding event without a Convention. Despite the shortened gathering, there will be plenty of educational highlights, including two speakers who will offer engaging contact hour opportunities. You won’t want to miss these presentations!
A plenary session on Friday will feature public health nurse and radio journalist Barbara Glickstein, who will speak on the dramatic topic of human trafficking and the nurse’s primary role in ending this global form of abuse. Glickstein spoke to a crowd at the 2007 Convention; her follow-up lecture will provide greater detail on how RNs can identify and refer victims and help break the trafficking cycle.
The keynote address on Saturday will be presented by Jackie Pflug, a powerful motivational speaker who has inspired audiences across America with her story of surviving a violent plane hijacking in 1989. Her presentation, “The Courage to Succeed,” will boost your personal courage and also provide insight about post-traumatic stress disorder and the potential for recovery. Copies of her book, Miles to Go Before I Sleep, will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
Henry Nicholas, president of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, will address bargaining unit members gathered for NYSNA Labor Day on Friday, Sept. 26.
Nicholas has led the union since 1981, which has grown to 150,000 members during his tenure. NUHHCE represents workers in all fields in the major health institutions and its members have made tremendous gains in wages, benefits, and working conditions.
An outspoken advocate for healthcare reform, Nicholas said in a 2002 interview: “The labor movement … should invest those dollars in organizing the unorganized. I’m out on the battlefield 17 hours a day, seven days a week, running from state to state like Paul Revere, bringing a message of organizing. And every labor leader in America should have that as his first and second and final concern: empowering the workers, building a more perfect union.”