Comments from members on the new MNA direction
The MNA has been flooded with emails and phone calls since the decision by the board to make bold changes in leadership and direction for the organization, with the vast majority being extremely supportive of the new direction taken. Here is a sampling:

The actions of the duly elected BOD send a very clear message to the membership that they do, with great capability, represent the will of the body. My confidence in my MNA leadership is renewed. I have no question that Julie Pinkham, a visionary in her own right, empowered in her new role as Executive Director, will lead this organization to even greater acclaim as leaders in the nursing profession. Julie’s successful service to the 18,000 members in the Labor Program can in part be attributed to her keen understanding of the multifaceted issues that face nurses at all levels. Most important to me is that our new BOD, represented with a staff nurse majority, and the Labor Program can work together without conflict of interests and with a unified agenda which will reflect the needs of staff nurses of Massachusetts. I’m proud to be a member of this MNA. 
 

I would like to express my excitement in the placement of the new Board of Directors at MNA. As a participant at the business meeting at the MNA convention, I witnessed what the staff nurses truly want for their representation and how that was sabotaged in every way possible. MNA is now staff nurse orientated and open for us all. I feel such confidence in the new Board of Directors and that they will speak out for us the Staff Nurses in Massachusetts. It is a new beginning for us all at MNA 

There are many of us in Western Mass who are applauding all of you for this major change. I am for one. I am here to support each and every one of you as we work to defend our nursing practice and promote safe and quality care for ourselves in our work environment and for our patients!!! 

I am writing as a staff nurse and student of social welfare and health policy who is concerned about the delivery of health care in this country and my ability to deliver safe quality care within our current healthcare system. I believe part of my job as a nurse is to advocate for my individual patients and for fundamental social change in our healthcare system and society to allow for better care in order to improve health and welfare of people overall. In order to work towards this change, I feel it is essential for the MNA to disaffiliate from the ANA rather than maintain the status quo.

For these reasons, I was very disappointed after the MNA’s Business meeting of November 9thof this year. Not only did we lose the vote to disaffiliate by a majority, according to Robert’s rules, but I found the entire process, “nurse unfriendly”. The time and location of the meeting made it very difficult for working nurses to attend, and the parliamentary procedures delayed the vote unnecessarily. 

After such a disappointment, it is with great happiness that I read the Dec. 1 letter announcing the changes in leadership affected by MNA’s Board of Directors which include a new executive director and president. I believe the newly appointed leaders will be responsive to MNA’s working nurse membership and be willing to take the necessary steps to lead us and the patients we represent forward in the fight for social change and welfare. 

Change is good, without change there can be no growth. As one of the MNA members who voted for change in the form of disaffiliation from the ANA, I support the new leaders appointed by the board. I know they will work hard to represent and advocate for the bedside nurse. I also applaud the fact they did not give up even after the disheartening miss of the two thirds vote required to disaffiliate. I’m proud to be a member of an organization that exists to protect both the patients we care for, and the nurses providing the care, from the managed care fiasco,and from the for-profit corporations.  

The current MNA Board of Directors and President now reflect who I voted for in the recent MNA general election. The Board is comprised of nurses with strong histories of taking openly public stands on many issues on behalf of staff nurses and the entire profession. The Board is also made up entirely of members with a long history of service to the MNA. I feel we could not be in a better or stronger position to address the problems the profession is facing.

MNA has clearly made its mission known to be foremost the advancement and empowerment of nurses in a nurse hostile healthcare industry. Congratulations to you all. And thank you. 

We who support a new MNA do not pretend to have all of the answers but at least we are asking questions. We are also willing to explore the possibility that there is another way. There are just as many PHD’s. MA’s MS’s MSN’s BS’s ... and folks with a great deal of common sense on our side of the issue as there are on the pro-ANA side. I haven’t been “PROUD” to be a nurse in a long time. I’m starting to feel pride again. This is a bold new step for us and it will not always be pretty but in the end history will show that we finally woke up and embraced the power that was ours to command all along. For too long we were made to believe that we could watch the game but it was far too complicated for us to play. We have been watching and studying for a long time. It may surprise you to learn how well we have mastered it.