May 7, 2024 — We’re going all out for National Nurses Month, featuring Nurse Lobby Day and saving SUNY Downstate, looking back at the creation of PEF’s nurse organizer position, celebrating PEF nurses with profiles on Clara Shamatanga and Cynthia Walker, and remembering a pillar of nursing history, Lavinia Dock.
National Nurses Month has its roots in National Nurses Week, which was first observed in 1954 in honor of Florence Nightingale’s birthday on May 12, 1820. Often called “the Lady with the Lamp” after navigating dark hospital hallways carrying a lamp while making her rounds during the Crimean War, Nightingale was instrumental in making hospitals cleaner and safer.
In addition to writing more than 150 books, pamphlets and reports on health-related issues, she is also credited with creating one of the first versions of the pie chart.
Enjoy our features this month and, as always, if you have tips on who we can feature in future issues (nurses, engineers, social workers, anyone in any PEF title), email communicator@pef.org!
Profiles
Clara Shamatanga: Balancing union, family, and work
Cynthia Walker: Nurse, union leader, health care activist
History
Blast from the Past: PEF Nurse Organizer position established in 1998
Lobbying