Local 521 Nurses Win Glenda Canfield Award

Winners Designed Educational Courses for SEIU Nurses

For their work in putting together an educational program for nurses, SEIU Local 521 members Carmen Morales and Carmen Cruise (both from Kern County) and 521 staff member Ernest Harris received the Glenda Canfield Award from the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California. (The three are pictured at right.)

Morales, a diabetes educator and nurse practitioner at Kern Medical Center, was particularly moved by the honor because Canfield was a motivational force in her life.

"It was Glenda who inspired me to be a union nurse activist," Morales said.

The Canfield Award recognizes Morales, Cruise and Harris's work in designing courses for SEIU nurses to participate in. The classes are free, and participants earn continuing education units. The two-hour sessions are led by experts in the field and cover topics such as the Nurse Practice Act, diabetes medication updates, and abuse in the work place.

A few sessions have been held with more scheduled for 2009. "It's still new," Morales said, "but nurses are getting excited about it."

Canfield, an operating room nurse who passed away in 2006, was the first full-time staff member at the SEIU Nurse Alliance. She was instrumental in formulating SEIU's recommendation to the State Department of Health Services on the nurse-to-patient ratios.