NY Nurse: November 2021

November is National American Indian Heritage Month, also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. What started out as a day to commemorate Native Americans eventually became a month thanks to U.S. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega and other members of the Indigenous community. While some may question the efficacy of heritage months, they are an opportunity to increase dialogue, understanding and knowledge about cultures other than our own.

On December 6, 2021, NYSNA will host our first ever statewide bargaining conference. It is an opportunity to unite workers across regions and systems and prepare for upcoming contract negotiations. The conference will feature educational courses, regional and systemwide breakouts, strategy sessions and more. Because many employers are statewide or rapidly expanding across NY, we want to ensure that em-ployees who are separated by buildings but employed by the same system can work collaboratively to develop strategies to improve patient care.

Over the course of the past several months, many media outlets have written stories on nurses’ resistance to vaccine mandates. Although most nurses are vaccinated, many reporters and outlets have been obsessed with the small minority of people who have not been vaccinated.