{"id":9933,"date":"2026-10-28T13:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T17:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=9933"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:39:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T18:39:25","slug":"nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-9\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurses display union strength, strategy, and the healing power of laughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 30, 2026 —<\/em> PEF delegates who work as nurses at OMH, OPWDD, DOCCS and several other agencies attended a lunch hour workshop hosted by the Statewide Nurses\u2019 Committee during Convention this year. Each year, the lunch focuses on bringing new information or helpful tools to nurses working for the state, who often work long hours and in dangerous situations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are all leaders here and as President Spence said during his State of the Union address, we\u2019re doing great,\u201d said PEF Statewide Nurses\u2019 Committee Co-Chair Amy Lee Pacholk. \u201cAnd we\u2019re doing great because you\u2019re participating.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pacholk asked that the nurses in the room continue to stay involved, especially during the annual lobbying day each spring, when nurses travel to Albany for two days of education on the issues facing nurses and visit New York State Senators and Assemblymembers to share their stories and get those issues addressed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pacholk also introduced Nurse Consultant Debbie Egel. Egel told attendees to keep filling out Protest of Assignment (POA) forms whenever they have a complaint to log with management about something they are tasked to do. PEF uses those forms to support nurses faced with hazardous working conditions. The data gathered allows the union to make the case to management about unsafe working conditions, and to protect the nursing licenses of members.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Egel said that every leader in the room should not only be filling out POA forms whenever necessary, but encouraging others to do so as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis tool is only useful if you\u2019re actually using it,\u201d said Egel. \u201cIf you\u2019re unsafe at work, your fellow nurses and those you\u2019re taking care of are also unsafe. If you\u2019re short-staffed, that affects everyone. You need to get together and file these POAs, document and be fearless. Hospitals and institutions cannot run without you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Egel and Pacholk told PEF nurses that they would be working hard to change the dynamic of how PE nurses organize going forward and introduced two new Nurse Coordinators as part of that change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

India Walton is one of two Nurse Coordinators hired by PEF. She is based in Buffalo, and will cover nurses in Region 1 through 8. She said she is a fierce advocate and is prepared to fight for whatever nurses need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be in this position. I have worked as a nurse for over 20 years,\u201d Walton said. \u201cI love to stay in the streets and in somebody\u2019s face about what\u2019s right. I believe that this is the right thing to do and we have every right to do it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second nurse coordinator, Mariel Hernandez-Abuelsaad, will cover Regions 9 through 12 and will work out of the Region 9 office in Poughkeepsie. Hernandez-Abuelsaad is a registered nurse who knows firsthand the dangers of the job and the need for POAs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it means to file a POA. My previous union pushed a big campaign to get safe staffing ratios put into our contract,\u201d she said. \u201cWorking with you all, and Debbie Egel, we\u2019re going to be able to really put some teeth to all the things we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re going to do great things together!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To conclude the luncheon, Pacholk introduced Nancy Norton, a registered nurse and award-winning comedian who uses her unique blend of nursing and comedic styling to teach healthcare workers how to stay healthy through humor. Norton believes that in addition to lowering stress hormones, laughter can prevent burnout, help with team bonding, and improve job retention.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was destined into nursing,\u201d said Norton. \u201cMy mom was a nurse. My dad was an alcoholic, so I had a combo platter. Seriously, I am a fifth-generation nurse. My mother, her mother, and her mother, and so on.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Norton\u2019s jokes hit on many of the things that nurses often push to the back of their minds, including the harsh realities of codependency, alcoholism, and family drama due to the working conditions nursing can sometimes inflict. However, she said that laughter can bring people back together.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou were all talking about filing out POAs and staying united earlier, and that really fired me up,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not even in your union and I\u2019m filling out a POA right now. You got into this line of work to save lives, and I got out of it for the same reason! I\u2019m here to heal with humor.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nurse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 30, 2026 — PEF delegates who work as nurses at OMH, OPWDD, DOCCS and several other agencies attended a lunch hour workshop hosted by the Statewide Nurses\u2019 Committee during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-9933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-9"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNurses display union strength, strategy, and the healing power of laughter - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-9\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nurses display union strength, strategy, and the healing power of laughter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 30, 2026 — PEF delegates who work as nurses at OMH, OPWDD, DOCCS and several other agencies attended a lunch hour workshop hosted by the Statewide Nurses\u2019 Committee during...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-9\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-28T17:36:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-28T18:39:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Nurse-Lunch-Update.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"Nurses display union strength, strategy, and the healing power of laughter\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-28T17:36:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-28T18:39:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Nurse-Lunch-Update.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-9\\\/nurses-display-union-strength-strategy-and-the-healing-power-of-laughter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nurses display union strength, strategy, and the healing power of laughter - 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