RNs To Meet With Students, Voters—Then Celebrate at Oakland’s First Friday!

National Nurses United members, who spent months traveling from coast to coast campaigning for Sen. Bernie Sanders on a bright red #BernieBus—will be heading to Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, and Martinez on Friday—then back Oakland to #FeelTheBern with voters at First Friday.

“The Bernie Bus has arrived in California, and we’re going all over the state,” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. “Bernie’s values represent the values of the nurses, trying to care for their patients at the bedside and beyond, and his campaign also reflects what the 99 percent want—education for their children, healthcare for all, a living wage and affordable housing—everything that should be part of a civilized nation. There’s one candidate who represents the people, and that’s Bernie Sanders.”

#BernieBus Stops for Friday, May 6

• Morning—Santa Rosa Junior College
• Early Afternoon—Sonoma State University
• Late Afternoon—Farmers Market at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center
• Evening—Oakland First Friday,

The #BernieBus made a series of Bay Area stops Thursday, including the official #BernieBus kickoff event at Berkeley City College—which featured NNU nurse speakers, NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro, former Berkeley Mayor Eugene “Gus” Newport, local Bernie Sanders supporters, and students.

“During my journey through higher education, I’ve been engaged in political science, which is my major,” said Berkeley City College student Noé Gudino. “Ever since I found out about Bernie Sanders, ever since I heard his platform on free education, I yearned for that. Every day, I walk outside, and I see the impact of this housing crisis and to me, a person like Bernie Sanders can help affect change out here. I’m supporting Bernie Sanders to the fullest. He can win California.”

Nurses say they are excited to meet more students and voters on Friday. 

“I’m a nurse at Kaiser Oakland; I live in the east bay. It will be so moving to have the #BernieBus at First Friday, visiting the community where I live and work, because what Bernie Sanders is championing in his campaign—affordable housing, a living wage, healthcare for all—these are all Oakland issues,” said #BernieBus nurses Katy Roemer, RN. “I really feel that Bernie’s campaign reflects values we all share and we can all work toward together.”

NNU members have been talking to voters since last fall, recently in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon. The #BernieBus will travel throughout California in May and early June, ahead of the June 7 California primary.

As the #BernieBus tour has traversed America, nurses have emphasized Sanders’ commitment to guaranteed healthcare for all, assuring equal educational opportunity for all by eliminating public college tuition to drive down student debt, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and creating millions of good paying jobs by rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and broad criminal justice reform, as well as opposition to unfair trade pacts.

National Nurses United is the largest union of nurses in the country, with 186,000 members in 50 states—and was the first national union to endorse Sanders, in August, 2015.

For more information on the Thursday bus stops, call Kari Jones, 510-207-4829