On a Friday night every month, the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (VFNHP) plays host to the children of its members at Fletcher Allen Health Care, Local 5221, in Burlington.

Last spring, the local started a program to provide free child care to members one Friday a month. The union has billed the evening Kids’ Night Out, but the monthly event could just as easily be called Nurses’ Night Out, since it’s really an opportunity for members to get a little time to themselves. 

The idea just came naturally, says Jennifer Henry, president of the local and a member of AFT Healthcare’s program and policy council. “As a union, we wanted to improve the quality of our nurses’ lives. The union is there to help organize around issues at work, but we felt we could do better,” says Henry.

So, the union lined up members to volunteer a couple of hours, cleared out the second floor of the union office and asked its stewards to spread the word. And the nurses and their children came. The program has succeeded: Most months, more than a dozen children participate and six or seven members volunteer.

Roberta Pratt, a nurse in the children’s specialty center at Fletcher Allen, says her 7-year-old daughter Rozlyn loves coming to the union office. Pratt has dropped her off for the evening to do some shopping. She also has returned the favor by volunteering. “As a single parent, you don’t get to do a lot of things by yourself,” she says. “It’s just a nice thing that I don’t have to organize.”

Ann Marie Barton-Sullivan, a registered nurse who works in the hospital’s dialysis unit, remembers what it was like to juggle work and care for her children. It’s one reason she volunteers her time. “I’ve been in that place and I understand how it is,” she says. “I’m just glad to support my colleagues.”

The program has reinforced the idea that the union does more than negotiate contracts and file grievances, says Henry. It is a community.