Home tonight? We have a great movie recommendation!

May 13, 2020

Dear 121RN Members,

Tonight was supposed to have been the special Nurses Week screening at our Union Hall of 5B, a moving film about the SEIU Nurses behind the nation's 1st AIDS unit.

It would have been so fitting to watch this together to celebrate International Nurses Day, which this year coincides with Florence Nightingale's 200th birthday—we were even going to have a birthday cake for her! And of course it's fitting since we're currently living through a time dominated by a new disease requiring so much of Nurses and other healthcare professionals—just like the disease these Union Nurses were facing back in the 1980s.

Ultimately, this movie is a good reminder of what we can do when we stand united and demand safe, quality bedside care.

The good news is, you can still watch the film tonight (or any night) on the streaming service of your choice. (Click here and scroll down to learn where it's streaming.)

Also, in case you missed it, we launched Nurses Week on May 6th with a Candlelight Vigil for our fallen Union Sister Celia Marcos, RN, where we also spoke out about the urgent need for PPE. See news coverage here.

Then over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times did an in-depth investigation into Celia's death. It ended up on the front page of the Sunday paper.

More Nurses Week news:

We've launched a second important member survey. If you haven't taken it yet, we need to hear from you. Please take a moment to complete it now.
More good news just in time for Nurses Week. We urged Governor Newsom to do more to protect those of us who contract COVID-19 from unscrupulous employers who deny we caught it on the job. He listened. He issued a temporary executive order—which covers March 19, 2020, through July 5, 2020—that shifts the burden of proof from the worker to the employer, who can only deny the benefits under strict, proven conditions.
Check out SEIU Local 121RN member Gabriel Guillen, an RN at St. John's Regional Medical Center, having a Nurses Week conversation about PPE with SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry.
And it might have gotten a little lost due to the global pandemic, but it's also fitting to remember today that it's the World Health Organization's "Year of the Nurse and Midwife."

So as we close out this Nurses Week—one that we will never forget—raise a glass to Florence and watch 5B tonight in her honor!

In Unity, Rosanna Mendez Executive Director, SEIU Local 121RN