None of these inspiring new movements happened by accident. They were the product of conscious organizing and movement-building by a diverse group of Millennial organizers and others (many organizing for the first time) employing a variety of innovative new strategies, tactics and organizing models for social change. A few of these organizers will be joining SEIU members and others participating at the SEIU Convention this year in Denver, Colorado to learn from one another and to celebrate the strength of our generation's will to change the world. (Check out the SEIU Millennials Facebook page)

Who Are the Millennial Generation?

The Millennial generation refers to people born roughly between the years of 1980 and the year 2000. According to a recent study, Millennials are by far the most ethnically diverse generation in American history as well as the most politically progressive.

More than 70% of college-age Millennials agree that the current economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, and 61% of us believe in the basic tenets of the Dream Act for undocumented youth. A majority of Millennials also believe in marriage equality.

While there are aspects of the generational shift in America which can generally be viewed as positive for our collective future, there are others which call into question fundamental assumptions about fairness and equality in U.S. democracy.

Members of the Millennial generation are the first generation in modern U.S. history to be economically worse off than their parents. Young adults are more than two times as likely to be underemployed and 50% more likely to be jobless than older Americans.

And the trend is not just limited to young people without a college diploma. A whopping 50% of new college graduates are either jobless or underemployed. This despite amassing a record $1 trillion dollars in student loan debt.

Instead of working toward the creation of good jobs and affordable education for all, politicians are targeting youth for simply walking or driving through their own neighborhood with policies like the notorious Stop and Frisk of New York City or the draconian Federal anti-immigration policy known as Secure Communities. Last year, a record 400,000 people were apprehended, separated from their families and deported by law enforcement.

Millennials were born and raised in an era characterized by the rolling back of vital social services like transportation, public education and healthcare, as well as the deregulation of Wall Street and tax giveaways for big businesses to which, there was supposedly, "no alternative". This agenda was a major theme of successive administrations across the political spectrum, who promised eventual prosperity for the public in return for sacrifices to the biggest corporations and Wall Street. We can never forget that the tragic reality faced by today's young workers and students is an example that this agenda has failed the vast majority of people and that in 2012 we need to begin dramatically changing course.

Changing the World: the Millennial Way

SEIU recognizes that there are many fresh and exciting lessons for the broader social and economic justice movement to learn from the experiences of organizers in the Millennial generation. SEIU members and allies from the progressive community are preparing to participate in a two day event at our Convention later this month called, "Changing the World: the Millennial Way."

Rapper Jasiri X and other performers will be attending the Millennial event at the SEIU Convention

The event will feature organizers from the immigrant rights movement, Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, members of 1199 Purple Gold, Google and other organizations as we explore innovative and effective new solutions to the mounting problems facing America and the global community. The success or failure of the continuing 99% movement in the United States will in large part depend on the level of participation, leadership and ultimately the organizing of the Millennial generation in our workplaces and communities. This year's event will be a continuation of the national conversation to support that work.

Follow the Millennial action

For more information about the Millennial event at the SEIU Convention or how you can get involved with our organizing work post-convention follow @BrotherAustin on twitter and hashtag #SEIUMillennials. You can also 'like' our SEIU Millennials page on Facebook.

This week is Women's Health Week, and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, women will be leading longer, healthier lives because they now have access to critical services like maternity care and preventive checkups. Women's health is critical to our economy, family and community because they are mothers, senators, sisters, CEOs, aunts, nurses, wives and friends.

Today, because of the healthcare law, women have more freedom and control over their own healthcare choices. In 2011, 20.4 million women with private health insurance gained expanded preventive services with no cost sharing - including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, flu and pneumonia shots, and regular well-baby and well-child visits. Young adults can now stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 years old, so an additional 1.1 million women of that age have health insurance. Additionally, 24.7 million women enrolled in Medicare have received preventive services without cost-sharing - including an annual wellness visit, a personalized prevention plan, mammograms, and bone mass measurement for women at risk of osteoporosis.

The full benefits of the healthcare law are being phased in over the next several years. This August, women will be able to access additional preventive services with no cost-sharing including well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening, breastfeeding supplies and contraceptive services.

Extremist Republicans, like the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Governor Scott Walker in my own state of Wisconsin, talk about repealing the Affordable Care Act. Maybe they're forgetting the facts about how hard it was for women to get care before the healthcare law was put into place?

Before Obamacare, women's health was in the hands of the insurance industry and they were charged more for insurance just because of their gender, C-sections and being a victim of domestic violence were considered pre-existing conditions. Only 13% of health plans in the individual market include maternity care and insurance companies limited care or dropped care when it was needed most.

For those who would continue to play politics with healthcare, or seek to take away the benefits of the law, we would ask them to reflect on the importance of the health of the women in their lives. During Women's Health Week this year, celebrate by making an appointment for a checkup and educating others about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

  » Some resources to help you get started here and here.

  » Follow the conversation on Twitter about Women's Health Week via hashtag #NWHW .

  » This Women's Health Week, take charge of knowing what's happening with women's health and the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act by signing up for SEIU's healthcare breaking text alerts.

Houston - Citing the need to elect leaders who will pursue an agenda of fair taxes, defending vital services and creating good jobs, the working men of women of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) endorsed candidates for Congress and state/local races across Texas.

The SEIU's 10,000 janitors, healthcare workers, public employees and service workers endorsed candidates from El Paso to Houston to Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley. "Texas is our home. We are healthcare professionals and we take care of the community when they're sick and that's why we are endorsing candidates that are focused on one thing: fighting for the 99%," said Peter Dieguez, OB Tech at Las Palmas Hospital in El Paso.

Marisol Quintana, a janitor in Houston said, "We work hard and struggle to get ahead because politicians are making decisions that only benefit a few at the top. We endorsed candidates for the Texas House and Senate who will go to Austin and undo some of the damage to our communities - no more budget cuts to our schools and our neighborhoods so the 1% don't have to pay their fair share. I'm excited about what we will accomplish in 2012 by working together."

Texas population growth led the nation giving the state 4 new seats in Congress. SEIU members endorsed 6 candidates for the US House: Councilmember Brianna Hinojosa-Flores in District 6, Nick Lampson in District 14, State Representative Joaquin Castro in District 20, State Representative Pete Gallego in District 23, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson for reelection in District 30 and Congressman Lloyd Doggett for reelection in District 35.

The candidates who received SEIU support went through the union's member-led endorsement process in six major metro areas. "I am ready to get to work and start knocking doors and making phone calls to let my friends and neighbors know who will improve the lives of working people, so they can support their families, retire with dignity, and give their children a better future," said Rose Araujo Iracheta, 911 operator City of San Antonio who lives in Congressional District 35. "

Local unions in the SEIU Texas State Council include SEIU Local 1, the Houston Organization for Public Employees, SEIU Local 5, SEIU Healthcare Texas and Workers United. SEIU Texas State Council Executive Director Jean Hervey said, "Working with our allies in the 99% movement, we will replace a Congress that would vote TWICE for Rep. Ryan's extremist Tea Party budget. It's time to put Americans to work, fix our schools and repair our bridges and put an end to trickle-down policies that only benefit the richest Americans."

"As a State Representative, my primary focus has been to create quality jobs and helping to ensure that Texans working families have quality healthcare," said State Representative Garnet Coleman. "It's time we find common-sense solutions that will help our local economies, put people back to work, and rebuild the middle class in our communities."

Full Endorsement List for SEIU Texas State Council
Congressional:

Congressional District 6 - Brianna Hinojosa-Flores
Congressional District 14 - Nick Lampson
Congressional District 20 - Joaquin Castro
Congressional District 23 - Pete Gallego
Congressional District 30 - Eddie Bernice Johnson
Congressional District 35 - Lloyd Doggett

San Antonio area:

State House District 117 - Phil Cortez
State House District 125 - Justin Rodriguez
Bexar County Commissioner - Jennifer Ramos
Bexar County Tax Assessor Collector - Albert Uresti

Dallas/Dallas and Tarrant Counties area:

State Senate District 10 - Wendy Davis
State House District 90 - Lon Burnam
State House District 95 - Nicole Collier
State House District 101 - Paula Pierson
State House District 103 - Rafael Anchia
State House District 104 - Roberto Alonzo
State House District 105 - Rosemary Robbins
State House District 107 - Robert Miklos
State House District 109 - Helen Giddings
State House District 110 - Toni Rose
State House District 111 - Yvonne Davis
State House District 114 - Carol Kent

Houston/Harris County area:

State Senate District 13 - Rodney Ellis
State House District 131 - Alma Allen
State House District 134 - Ann Johnson
State House District 137 - Joseph Carlos Madden
State House District 139 - Sylvester Turner
State House District 143 - Ana Hernandez Luna
State House District 144 - Mary Ann Perez
State House District 145 - Carol Alvarado
State House District 147 - Garnet Coleman
Harris County Sheriff - Adrian Garcia

McAllen/Hidalgo County area:

State House District 39 - Armando Martinez
State House District 40 - Robert Peña
State House District 41 - Bobby Guerra
State Senate District 20 - Chuy Hinojosa
State Board of Education District 2 - Ruben Cortez
Hidalgo County Commissioner Precinct 1 - AC Cuellar
Hidalgo County Judge - Ramon Garcia

Cameron County
State House District 37 - Rene Oliveira

El Paso/West Texas area:

State Senate District 29 - José Rodriguez
State House District 74 - Poncho Nevarez
State House District 75 - Mary Gonzalez
State House District 77 - Marisa Marquez
State House District 78 - Joe Moody

Corpus Christi/Nueces County area:

State House District 34 - Abel Herrero
State House District 43 -Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles
State Board of Education - Ruben Cortez

What I Know...

If you have been a nurse for a couple of weeks or a nurse for the last 30 years, violence on the job is never very far from you. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of legal protections in place. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recognizes workplace violence as a hazard, but has no federal regulations in place requiring employers to deal with the problem. While some states, like New York, have some laws in place (thanks to the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and other unions) if there is no accountability, the laws are just bundles of paper in a drawer somewhere.

Various papers, studies, scholars, union leaders, and other folks reiterate this point: Workplace violence is an epidemic that many outside our facilities or day-to-day life have no clue even happens, much less how often it happens. More healthcare professionals are either assaulted or killed on the job than any other profession or trade.

For many of us, it is tremendously difficult to talk about something if we don't have a concrete definition of what "it" is. What does that mean? We can all talk about what we think and feel after a co-worker is beaten on the job. We can all attend rallies, services, light candles, shake our heads ... but what is "it"?  What is the definition of workplace violence?

Jonathan Rosen, MS CIH, Director of the Occupational Safety & Health Department for the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF), facilitated an amazing breakout session on workplace violence at the California legislative conference. One slide in his presentation defined workplace violence very succinctly:  "Workplace violence is any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting."

Maybe as you read that, you thought about the countless times you felt threatened, were threatened, or were verbally abused at work. It's likely that more than half of you have had first-hand experience with violence on the job.

This is probably not breaking news, but there are papers and studies out there that reveal that healthcare providers often do not report violence that occurs on the job. Another of Jonathan's slides cited a National Crime Victimization Survey: "58% of harassed employees do not report incidents. Fewer than than half of workers report assault to the police. Only 25% of rapes at work are reported."

Having the Discussion and Reporting the Problem(s)

Government statistics underestimate the true extent of violence at the workplace because: 

* Data is collected on "battery" or incidents resulting in physical injury or death. Threats, verbal threats, and harassment are not reported to government agencies. 

* In some jobs, assaults are so common that they are dismissed as "part of the job."

* Other possible sources of information about violence -- like hospital records or police reports -- often fail to provide information about whether the injury was or was not work-related. 

* Employers discourage employees from filing workers' compensation claims for assault. In addition, many injuries do not meet the criteria for receiving workers' compensation.

The reasons why our workplaces at times explode into violence add up to a growing list. According to the Safe Work, Safe Care Project, patients can become violent as a result of mental disorders, substance abuse, a past history of violence, head injuries, and confusion. The Project's list includes about twenty issues -- these are just the top five. 

But why are we hesitant to report instances of violence on the job?  Many of us may have heard about the OSHA General Duty Clause -- but, what is it?  It's important!

OSHA's General Duty Clause and EVERY Employer's RESPONSIBILITY! 

Every employer in the United States is responsible for creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace for its employees.  The good news for us is this:  THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.  That, sisters and brothers, that is the law.  It is your right as a worker. 

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires that an employer:  "shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees." 

This is what we refer to as the OSHA General Duty Clause.

In September 2011, OSHA issued procedures for its field staff to use when responding to incidents and complaints of workplace violence. We believe that this directive will help inspectors use the General Duty Clause when they can. 

Start the Conversation with Thousands and Thousands of Nurses

Here are our talking points: 

1) Workplace violence defined: "Workplace violence is any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting."

2) The Department of Justice says that fewer than half of all non-fatal violent workplace crimes are reported to the police.

3) Some known causes for under-reporting workplace assaults include:

         "Part of the job" syndrome

         Fear of blame or reprisal

         Lack of management/peer support

         Feeling it's not worth the effort

4) OSHA and the OSHA General Duty Clause: 

      There are no OSHA standards regarding workplace violence (ain't that something?) -- however...as mentioned, in September 2011 OSHA issued directives for field staff when investigating incidents of workplace violence.

      And ...you have the right to a place of employment that is free from recognized occupational hazards which cause or are likely to cause serious harm, illness, or death. 

5) Violence is recognized occupational hazard! 

Tap Tap Tap ... 

You are saving lives every single day, sometimes more than once or twice a day. Now, I need you to help me save yours.  We can do this first by getting our voices heard on this issue.  We have a framework and some talking points.  We have resources at the International Union and with our allies.  We have one another.

This link is for you to fill out and share your story.  You can choose to have your story published in future RoundUps and websites -- and you can choose to do it anonymously or with your name attached.  Get involved in the discussion at whatever level is comfortable for you.

SEIU also has a list-serv dedicated to Workplace Violence Prevention.  That online venue is by invitation, so please sign up for it by emailing me your name, title, and personal email address. 

Online Activism

For now, we're focusing on telling our stories as they relate to workplace violence, and we're doing that via an online form.  We are also focusing on emailing information, questions, and suggestions to each other.  If we can get this moving along, watch how the whole Internet becomes a go-to union activist tool!

I have found that if we can get our heads around the messaging, the right tool will appear. Whether it is Facebook or Twitter, a separate website or any other online tool -- we need to start with the messaging.

Whether you shared your story in the past or not, please take a minute to do it again.

I look forward, as always, to hearing from you all. 

I have another idea about how we can honor our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our friends. We can empower women to make their health a top priority by urging them to participate in National Women's Check Up Day today as part of National Women's Health Week.

What is more important than insuring the health of the women we love? And what better way to focus on her health than using this day as a reminder to check in with a medical professional for just that reason?

Today is dedicated to highlighting the need for women to visit their health care professionals for checkups and to encourage women to schedule regular checkups.

Pledging to schedule - and follow through with - annual physicals can lower the risks of chronic health conditions and can make it more likely that diseases will be caught early through screening tests such as mammograms and Pap tests.

There are several steps to participate in National Women's Check Up Day:

1. Make an appointment for a checkup with your health care professional for a physical and screenings.
2. Have an informed discussion with your health care professional about what screenings and tests you need, when you should have them and how often.
3. Use the interactive screening chart provided by womenshealth.gov to learn about the screenings that are recommended by age. Schedule those screenings as you hit those milestones.
4. Pledge to schedule at least one preventative health care screening during May 2012.

We love our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our friends. We can't imagine not having them in our lives. This reminder that preventative care is a vital step towards maintaining women's health is the best way to assure that the important women in our lives are there for as long as possible.

Two screening charts you can refer to learn about what screening women need at certain ages to stay healthy from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health and on Planned Parenthood's Tumblr.

Need to schedule a checkup or find a health center? Plannedparenthood.org has a useful health center locator.

As a registered nurse for over 25 years, I have seen the demands of the profession evolve as technology and the needs of our patients have evolved, but what remains unchanged is the commitment that nurses on the front lines of care have to stand up for their patients.

It's been more than two years since the Affordable Care Act became law. But since its passage, extremist voices have focused on fighting the same old political fights again and again, rather than focusing on the benefits the law provides to patients and its vision for the future of care in this country.

I hear a lot of myths and distortions about the healthcare law. What I don't hear addressed in these conversations is how we will we care for the 129 million Americans who are routinely denied care by the health insurance industry due to a pre-existing condition. Or how we will cover the more than 32 million Americans who are working, but simply cannot afford the skyrocketing costs of healthcare coverage. If we are going to create a healthier country, we need to deal in the facts.

RN Nadine White knows what kind of difference this can make:

"I work in the labor and delivery department at my hospital. Prenatal care and testing are so important. But some women just can't afford it--or even afford co-payments of $20-40. I've seen too many pregnant women who've been faced with the choice of whether to pay for a medical test or put food on the table for their children at home. And they don't get the tests. Now, with the Affordable Care Act, more women will be able to get the care they need."

- Nadine White is a labor and delivery nurse and member of 1199SEIU Florida.

For nurses, the Affordable Care Act is a lifeline. The law puts the power to manage better care in the hands of the nurses, doctors, and healthcare workers that actually deliver care. One example is the Community Transformation Grant awarded to Kern County, California to actively address chronic disease and obesity:

"Our Community Transformation Grant, 'Call to Action,' aims for system and environment change so that the healthy choice is the easy choice--through healthy food and healthy living, tobacco cessation and high quality clinical services. Kern County is the worst in California for obesity rates and deaths due to diabetes and cardiac disease, and we also have poor air quality. Our citizens now have the opportunity and support to make healthy choices. A healthy Kern County is a prosperous Kern County."

- Carmen Morales-Board is a nurse practitioner, certified diabetes educator, and member of SEIU Local 521.

Every nurse has seen the stress and heartache that sick patients and their families endured when they hit their insurance plan's annual or lifetime limit. The law has already brought relief to sick patients by eliminating lifetime limits, and annual limits will be eliminated by 2014. This is literally life-saving news to Kim Klinger's patients:

"One of the last things a person with cancer needs is more stress. But I've seen that happen again and again when my patients learn that their health insurance plan has a 'cap' on the amount of care the plan will pay for. And the often hit that cap while getting the cancer treatment they need to survive. Families have been bankrupted just by trying to get well. Thanks to the new law, no cancer patient--or anyone with a serious illness--will be faced with this kind of death sentence again."

- Kim Klinger is a med-surg oncology nurse and member of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.

These are real benefits in effect now, and yet we know that roughly 1 out of 2 Americans don't know these facts. That's why nurses across the country are reaching out to patients this Nurses Week to give them these simple facts that could improve their health, if not save their lives.

This week, we also have our eyes on the demands that caring for 32 million more Americans will place on our healthcare system. We are also looking at the wave of baby boomers who will drive a transformation in our long term care system. These parallel events will mean not just training more than one million nurses, but rethinking how we educate and retain a robust nursing workforce.

For those who continue to play politics with health of Americans, or seek to take away the benefits of the law, nurses ask them to think about the care we seek to deliver every day, the good jobs that the healthcare sector will generate, and the communities that this law will help. That's not empty rhetoric. Those are facts.

Visit www.seiu.org/nurses for more about Nurses Week.

America's looming retirement security crisis disproportionately affects women, including working mothers who tend to earn less and take on more family obligations than their male counterparts. In turn, they are more vulnerable to poverty in old age.

While retirement security is what Diane Taft of Warwick, Rhode Island most needs, it isn't something she wants to receive from her two daughters for Mother's Day.

"I taught my girls to be practical and compassionate so they may feel obligated to take care of me. However, their future is just as uncertain as my own since there are fewer opportunities for young people," says Taft.

Taft also shares the anxiety many working mothers feel in preparing for a decent retirement. In late 2011, Rhode Island lawmakers voted to switch most state employees from a traditional pension to a hybrid retirement savings plan effective July 1st that will cut her previously anticipated benefits by 20 percent.

She doesn't know if time or the economy will allow her make up the difference between those two plans or pay off her house in the next 10 years. But one thing Taft is determined not to do is place a financial burden on her children who currently attend college.

"I don't want my daughters' worlds to be turned upside down by the financial demands of caring for an elderly mother and disabled father," she says.

For working mothers, addressing America's looming retirement security crisis is a social and economic imperative; helping them achieve a secure retirement would be perhaps the greatest Mother's Day gift of all - it sure beats a store-bought card!

After my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, the nurses in her facility played a critical role in her care and recovery. That was when I decided I was going to become a nurse.

Today I work for San Francisco General Hospital and as a nurse for the last three years, I've seen patients that were not nearly as lucky as my mother. Just as I was starting out in the field one of my sister's college friends, like many young people today, graduated and did not immediately get a job that provided health benefits. She was feeling under the weather, but delayed seeking care because she had no health insurance. When she finally went in to see someone it was discovered that she had stage four breast cancer.

The Affordable Care Act focuses on preventive care, eliminating co-pays for essential healthcare such as well-child visits, cancer screenings and contraception. More patients will be covered in 2014, and we will see fewer people using the emergency department at San Francisco General as their sole source of primary care. When patients have the opportunity to see a practitioner when they are ill, without fear of cost, many of the costly healthcare crises that I see now will be avoided.

We fought hard to pass the Affordable Care Act and we will fight hard to defend it. Our patients' lives are depending on it.

Visit SEIU.org's Nurses Week 2012 page for more information about how nurses are Caring for America.

Today, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to come out in support of same-sex marriage and extending the rights and responsibilities of marriage to all citizens, regardless of their sexuality.

He joins many of us - SEIU included - who have long supported marriage equality and the right of all families to receive the benefits of equal protection under the law. Back in 2004, our union made winning equal rights and benefits for all our members a priority in bargaining and legislative campaigns. We were also the first international union to endorse marriage equality.

"There is growing momentum for equality in this country. And with each American that believes in equality, we are reminded that the continued dream of equality is our birthright, our heritage and our promise.

"For anyone who counts equality among the basic tenets of a free and just America, President Obama's announcement in support of marriage equality today is a victory."

This is a huge moment for lesbian and gay Americans, our progressive allies and truly, all Americans who believe that our country stands for more than political rhetoric and slogans.

For those of us who canvassed, phone banked and donated to help elect Barack Obama in 2008, today is also a powerful reminder of why we felt so passionately about this President in the first place. On days like today, it's not difficult to feel proud to be a Democrat.

Despite setbacks like the results that came out of North Carolina last night, the longstanding impact of having the support of the President of the United States for marriage is a powerful affirmation before all Americans of the basic human dignity of same-sex couples and their families.

ABC has the video of Obama's history-making announcement.

Read Mary Kay Henry's statement and then check out reactions from unions and LGBT-related organizations here.

Tweet a message of thanks to Barack Obama

Show your appreciation by clicking on the link below to send this tweet to the President:

#MarriageEquality is about family, community, love & justice. Thank you, @BarackObama, for taking a stand. #ItGotBetter #LGBT via @SEIU

I have a real appreciation for what access to timely, quality care can mean because I am a nurse--but also because my husband is the recipient of a kidney transplant which saved his life.

As a nurse I have worked with many transplant patients and seen the dramatic difference that they have experienced after surgery - life before and life after a transplant is a world apart. Unfortunately, I have also witnessed the negative impacts of a healthcare system in which insurance companies--not healthcare providers--were given free reign to make decisions with regards to how much and what kind of care patients were able to receive.

Some transplant patients would reach their lifetime limit on care and the insurance companies would stop paying for their daily anti-rejection medication. Some of these patients would try to buy it on their own, but it is very expensive. They would try to ration the pills, taking them every other day or weekly which is ineffective; some patients just stopped taking the pills altogether. Without the medication, their transplanted organs died.

What a tragic waste in so many ways....These insurance companies took away the healthy lives that these transplant patients were living and put them back on dialysis or worse. The Affordable Care Act eliminates lifetime limits on care. The law puts the decision about what kind and how much care patients receive into the hands of healthcare providers.

As my husband prepares for his second kidney transplant, I feel such relief knowing this law is in place. I fought hard to pass the Affordable Care Act and will make sure that people know the benefits of the law.

Visit www.seiu.org/nurses for more on Nurses Week 2012.

"In Scott Walker's drive to destroy the rights of Wisconsinites to bargain for a better life for themselves and their children, he has destroyed our economy and sent our state in the wrong direction.

"That is why the goal has always been, and continues to be, reclaiming Wisconsin by recalling Scott Walker. Tonight we are one step closer to achieving that goal.

"Tom Barrett has shown a genuine commitment to working families in our state. His job creation and economic development initiatives are the real leadership our state needs in this recovering economy.

"And he has shown a real desire to know what it takes to work and raise a family in the real world, spending a day on the job as a home care worker in Stevens Point, learning the challenges they and their clients face and getting a closer look at what it takes to make it in today's economy. Scott Walker has never accepted our open invitation to spend the day in the shoes of a worker and is blind to what real Wisconsin is like.

"Tonight's results prove that Tom Barrett has connected with working families across the state and as governor will restore our shared Wisconsin values by uniting people across the political spectrum to solve our tough problems together."

This year the celebration of National Nurses Week is particularly meaningful because we are seeing the positive impact of the Affordable Care Act, which we all fought so hard to pass, and we are also defending women, seniors, children, and people with disabilities from partisan political attacks.

I stood shoulder to shoulder with our nurses celebrating the benefits of the law on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC as arguments were being heard on challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

This law is working and our nurses will continue defending it.

Since its passage, extremist voices have focused on playing politics with the law and scoring political points. The presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney promises to repeal the healthcare law on his first day in office if he is elected, and Chairman Ryan of the House Budget Committee delivered a budget that gives $4 trillion in tax cuts to corporations while cutting $5 trillion in spending, taking away vital services to women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. I have heard their grandstanding, but what I haven't heard is their plan to create a healthier country.

What will happen to the 129 million Americans who are routinely denied care by the health insurance industry due to a pre-existing condition? Or how will we cover the more than 32 million Americans who are working, but simply cannot afford the skyrocketing costs of healthcare coverage?

The Nurse Alliance of SEIU Healthcare is 85,000 strong voices who will use this week to educate their fellow nurses, patients and communities about the benefits of the healthcare law and push back on attacks on vital services. Patients in our healthcare system have no better advocates than the nurses who care for them- for this, and many other reasons, join in celebrating National Nurses Week with us.