NEW YORK NURSE: October 2009
It was NYSNA Night on Sept. 18 at Long Island Ducks minor league baseball game in Central Islip, Long Island.
NYSNA nurses from Long Island facilities provided free blood pressure screenings and staffed the concession stand. Barbara Crane, chair of the bargaining unit at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, threw the first pitch.
More than $1,500 in concession stand sales was raised to benefit Nurse’s House, a Long Island-based charity that provides financial assistance to nurses in need. NYSNA also donated 20 luxury suite tickets to The John Theissen Children’s Foundation, which works to brighten the lives of hospitalized children.
“It was a night of firsts for many of us,” said Crane. “I was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch to Bud Harrelson, a former ’69 Mets baseball player, and instantly became the envy of every 12-year-old boy in the park.” Harrelson is co-owner of the Ducks.
“The Long Island NYSNA leadership group got to serve up the dogs and fries behind a fast-moving concession stand run by a drill sergeant named Maureen,” Crane continued. “By night’s end, our feet and backs didn’t know what hit them, but we all agreed we had never had a better time.”
JenMarie Byrnes of New Island Hospital raised the most money for Nurses House, with Lorraine Seidel, director of the NYSNA Economic & General Welfare Program, in second.
By the way, the Ducks beat the Camden Riversharks, 7-2.