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Massachusetts Nurse :: September
2005
Executive Director's column
A salute to Karen Higgins for her service
and her achievements
By the time you read this, a new MNA president will
have been elected to take office at month’s end. Before we head
down that path, I’d like to take some of your reading time to extend
my thanks to Karen Higgins, president of the MNA.
Many of you know Karen personally or have seen her on TV, heard
her on the radio or on your telephone. You’ve read her comments
in any number of newspapers as well as our newsletter, the Massachusetts
Nurse. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Karen as president
for two terms and well before that as chair of the Cabinet for
Labor.
To say she makes this work enjoyable is an understatement. First
off, from every colleague with whom she works at Boston Medical
Center in the ICU I hear she is a phenomenal nurse—the kind
you hope  you’ll get to work with both as a new grad and also during
the daily grind when the nurse you work with can make a big difference
as the day inevitably unfolds into organized chaos. And for patients
and families she is the kind of nurse you pray is taking care of
you or your loved one. And while the hospital industry no doubt
has a bull’s eye with her name on it, they retain certain recognition
that at 2:00 a.m. when it’s hitting the fan, they want her to be
on the other end of the call light.
As I look back, hers is a stunning legacy of achievement for the
Association at a time of monumental and historic changes in this
organization, all under astute leadership.  Karen was a leader in
the drive to disaffiliate from the American Nurses Association
and
to place the MNA on a path of renewed power and independence. She
has and continues to be a driving force in the MNA’s safe care campaign,
an effort to improve conditions and pass legislation on staffing
that has catapulted MNA to one of the nation’s most powerful and
respected voices on the state, regional and national health care
scene.
As far back as 1999, Karen was the originator of the motion for
the creation of a Nursing Shortage Task Force that crafted one
of
the first comprehensive reports on how to deal with the nursing
crisis. She was among the MNA members who first recognized the
issue
of workplace violence for nurses and she pushed hard on the Board
of Directors to make sure the organization had the resources to
tackle this issue.
 Karen was at the helm as MNA nurses waged two of the most widely
publicized strikes in our history, and she has pushed and pushed
hard with other members of the Board to develop a new five-year
plan to place the MNA at the forefront of health care decision-making
in the next five years. And as I mentioned above, through it all,
she has been the face of the MNA. on TV, on talk shows, in public
debates, at rallies, and meetings and hearings.
It is no accident that nurses and the MNA’s public approval rating
was higher than any other organization or union year after year
in public opinion polls and why polls of nurses statewide gave
high
marks to the MNA and its initiatives over the last four years.
She will tell you.and she is right.no one did this alone, but we
all
know none of it would have happened without certain leaders in
place with the capacity to sift through the rhetoric and get focused
on
what staff nurses needed  and how we could get it for them. Karen
is one of those leaders and she has helped nurses organize, bringing
us to our current 23,000 member status and making us the third
largest
nurses association and union in the United States.
While many accomplishments have been earned along the way, a primary
goal—the passage of ratios—has not cleared its final hurdle.
When
it does, while there will be many who made it happen, one will
stand out: Karen Higgins.
I know Karen will remain active in leadership as she transitions
from the role of president, and I know she will be there when the
bill is signed into law. But for now, thank you for getting us to
the last quarter mile of this marathon. See you at the finish line.
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