February, 2010

As the New Year started, Americans are hopeful that it will be a better year economically and reverse the recession we encountered last year. Only Mother Nature knew that another devastation will affect us once more. The earthquake that hit Haiti and the loss of many lives deeply affected many Americans. Although it did not happen in this country, almost everyone are willing to help and support the Haitian people. Our own nurses went on a compassionate and helping mode and many started volunteering to be deployed. Many were willing to give up their own time for humanitarian reasons. NAGE together with SEIU Nurse Alliance per a special request from the White House started coordinating with the International Medical Corp and Partners in Health in deploying nurses to Haiti. Our effort was met with resistance and non support of the VAMHCS management. It was so disheartening and I don’t have enough words to express my disappointment with the employer we work for. NAGE with the support of our dedicated members will continue to support and uphold our compassionate and humanitarian nature no matter what adversity hinders us.

Evelyn