Minutes: Las Vegas, Nevada Chapter
 

The Truth about Nursing- Las Vegas, Nevada Chapter

In the inaugural meeting, on January 28, 2010, of the Las Vegas Chapter of Truth about Nursing, we had five attendees present.  Attendees enjoyed refreshments, while Dee Riley, the co-president of the chapter had everyone introduce themselves.  We had 4 RNs and 1 interested party who is not a nurse, but who supports nursing very much.  After introductions, Dee told the story behind the Truth about Nursing website, by providing information on its founder Sandy Summers.  Ms. Summers has been instrumental in bringing together nursing professionals to take a stand on the image of nursing as portrayed in media, particularly.  All of us are familiar with the televised medical series, such as ER and Grey's Anatomy.  Nurses are too often portrayed as meek, handmaidens of the physicians.  Worse, some of the shows have portrayed physicians as doing everything for the patient in a hospital setting, which in reality is done by nurses.  In one episode of Grey's Anatomy, one medical resident berated another resident for acting "like a nurse".  When the nurse came in, the resident was very belittling to the nurse when she questioned his order. (see the film clip.)

Sandy is also the author of "Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts us all at Risk" a wonderful book that encourages and honors those in the nursing profession.  Another very important aspect of what we can do as members of our local chapter, as well as for the national group, is be ready to send letters to legislators, television producers and reporters, who may portray nursing in less than a professional manner.  Ms. Summers has done this for years, with much success, due to her tenacity and not letting things slide.  Dee went on to bring the website, Truth about Nursing, up on the screen and navigated around so the attendees could become familiar with what the site has to offer.  There are excellent television reviews, articles and even letter templates for legislators and others, that can be sent to those who may need a reminder of what we really do in our profession of nursing.

The group decided that we could meet by phone conference, unless it was felt by members that a face-to-face meeting was needed.  Also, more names of interested nurses are coming in and we encourage anyone who has an interest to send us their email address and we will add you to our mailing list.

At the end of the meeting, we picked names from a hat.  Katherine Cyle, RN won a gift basket of organic herbs. Evelyn Bray, RN won a signed copy of Sandy and Harry Summers' book, "Saving Lives."

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