Inspiration for Activism Part II –
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My activism began in college as I was part of the anti-war protests of the late 60’s and early 1970s.
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In between the time I was hired for my first nursing position and the time I began employment, we became part of a collective bargaining unit. From this, I learned the value of collective action around a common cause.
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As was common among baccalaureate graduates in the 70s, I was promoted to management within a year. In that role, I learned what advocacy meant, how to resolve conflict, and how to exercise the power of the nursing voice.
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In 1985, I became President of the Connecticut Nurses Association and was faced with a public health nightmare…we had no advanced practice statute and the Attorney General was going to stop nurse practitioners from prescribing vaccinations, contraception, and doing childhood physicals. The work began to establish the needed definitions and create the laws to permit the role of the advanced practice nurse. The final language was a compromise, but it was a start.
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For the past 40 years, my activism has been in response to a need whether it be establishing an accelerated program for non-nurse college graduates, a PhD program for advancement of the discipline and its knowledge, funding for education, or teaching administrators to be business wise and nurse conscious.
NurseManifest 