Everyday Heroes: AFT Nurses and Health Professionals finalists

Voting is open
May 9-29, 2016

Amber Jamison
Registered nurse, St. Vincent Charity Hospital, Cleveland
Ohio Nurses Association

Nursing can be a career path for some and a calling for others. For Amber Jamison, it is a calling. "I always knew I wanted to be a nurse," she says. Jamison, a mother of two, has been a nurse for eight years. As a float nurse, Jamison has worked in every unit at St. Vincent Charity Hospital. "I had my hands in everything," she says.

She also had a short stint as a nurse supervisor and is now a nurse in the intensive care unit. Last year, she was nominated to be the president of her local, which represents 350 registered nurses at the hospital. Jamison won the election and sees her new position as a chance to stay connected with her colleagues and lift up the importance of the union.

"I think all nurses should be unionized," she says. "It's important in any career to understand the business side of things, but heeding the voice of the frontline workers is equally important. We need to work together to make the best decisions for quality outcomes."

Community engagement is also important to Jamison, which is why she has encouraged her members to join in the Million Hearts initiative. The effort was started by the Ohio Nurses Association and the Ohio State University College of Nursing to prevent heart disease and stroke. Jamison and her members are working with the hospital to do community outreach in the form of screenings at local churches and community centers. "It's something we can do together with the hospital to serve the people in the community," says Jamison.

Susan Kitchell
School Nurse, Galileo Academy of Science and Technology
United Educators of San Francisco

Susan Kitchell has spent 40 years in nursing. She began her career working in hospitals, then transitioned to school nursing in 1997 when she was hired by the San Francisco Unified School District. During much of her school nursing career Kitchell visited several school sites each day, but for the past five years, she has settled into one high school, the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology. This has allowed her the time needed to build relationships with students and families and to connect with faculty and staff. It also has bolstered her belief in an AFT priority: Every child should have access to a school nurse.

As a nurse practitioner, Kitchell often relies on her instincts to determine if the teenagers she tends to are dealing with something emotional or physical. In a recent article she wrote for the American Educator, Kitchell sums up her work this way: "I may use my stethoscope to examine students but I mostly rely on my assessment skills, years of experience and gut feelings to determine what kinds of help our students need."

Kitchell currently represents school health services on the United Educators of San Francisco's executive board and has advocated for her fellow school nurses as well as for the best practices and procedures for students. Kitchell's expertise in adolescent health and wellness are extremely valuable at her school site, says her nominator.

School nursing is not for the faint of heart, says Kitchell. "You have to be very comfortable with your assessment skills because you don't have a lot of resources to fall back on. School nursing may sound simple, but it's very rare that my day is filled with Band-Aids and ice bags."

Teri Mills
Nurse educator, Portland (Ore.) Community College
Portland Community College Faculty Federation and Academic Professionals (AFT Oregon) and Oregon Nurses Association

Eleven years ago, Teri Mills called for the appointment of a national nurse for America in a New York Times op-ed. For the past decade, Mills has worked closely with members of Congress from both parties to introduce the National Nurse Act. The goal of the legislation is to bring visibility to the role of nurses in promoting, protecting and advancing the nation's health. And to help achieve that goal, the legislation calls for Congress to designate the Chief Nurse Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health.

The measure has been introduced every year since 2006, and each year, the bill garners strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. With Mills' persistence, leadership and guidance, the bill has an impressive list of more than 110 supporting organizations. Additionally, five state legislatures have overwhelmingly passed resolutions urging Congress to enact this legislation. Mills is also the founder and president of the National Nursing Network Organization, a legislative advocacy group dedicated to passing the National Nurse Act.

The quest for a national nurse has been a labor of love for Mills, a nurse educator at Portland Community College in Oregon. "I will continue to work as hard as I can to bring this legislation to fruition," she says. "We always get a lot of interest and active supporters when we talk to people about the campaign. It fits. It's what nursing is calling for. It's the logical next step for nursing."

Mills has nearly 40 years of experience in teaching and mentoring the next generation of nurse leaders, educating more than 3,000 registered nurses. She has served for many years as the faculty adviser to the PCC Chapter of the Student Nurses' Association, and she is also a member of the AFT's Task Force on Professionalism.

Roger Woods
Registered nurse, Danbury (Conn.) Hospital
Danbury Nurses' Union, Local 5047

Roger Woods may be an emergency room nurse, but he's also a natural-born teacher. Woods came to nursing as a second career after spending years as a painter. He has been a staff nurse at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut for 15 years. "Just like Harry Potter's wand found the wizard, nursing is the profession that found me," says Woods. "Every time I write RN behind my name, I flash back to the journey it took to get here and I realize what I am and who I am, and I can't help but smile."

Woods has a love of nursing, learning and sharing his newfound knowledge with others, and that's a good thing for his colleagues at Danbury. Two years ago, when the Ebola crisis hit in the U.S., Woods trained nurses at his hospital on how to safely use personal protective equipment to prevent them from contracting the virus or any other infectious disease. He was able to do that because he had decided to pursue first-responder training through the Federal Emergency Management Agency several years before. He also spent several weeks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention learning how to prepare and manage a crisis like Ebola.

A few years ago, Woods became a certified clinical hypnotist and uses his skills daily to calm anxious patients and family members. He's developed a course to teach nurses how to use these same techniques. Nurses are great communicators, says Woods, and if they can get patients to focus on something other than their pain and anxiety, they can enhance bedside care and aid in a faster recovery.

Woods has taught health professionals to reduce stress and use language to influence care and has also presented some of these techniques at churches and before civic groups to spread the word on how people can improve their health and well-being. As his nominator puts it: "Roger is exemplary in his willingness to help patients, colleagues and people in all walks of life."