Going into the holiday season, the shelves were almost bare in PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center's Dove Pantry–an onsite food pantry for hospital employees. In December, OFNHP President Adrienne Enghouse challenged the steward council to do something about it.

OFNHP steward and Ultrasound Tech Shawna Ross stepped up to lead the project, spreading the word about the donation drive throughout the month of January. Through Facebook posts, flyers, break room visits, and social networks, stewards advertised the drive and collected over 500 lbs of food and supplies.

On January 31, volunteers met to package items–making sure each one had a union sticker–before delivering the items to the pantry and organizing the shelves.

The Portland community, including many OFNHP members, turned out in force on Sunday to participate in the Reclaim MLK Annual March for Human Rights and Dignity. The event was sponsored by Don’t Shoot Portland (also called Don’t Shoot PDX), a grass-roots organization with a focus on social justice.

OFNHP members were on hand to give away hundreds of books to children and their families, as well as toothbrushes and first-aid kits. The federation also set up a station for children to make bracelets. The books were hand-selected by OFNHP, which worked with First Book, an AFT partner that helps affiliates in providing free and low-cost books and educational resources to students, families and communities in need.

One ballot question has captured the attention of voters in the Bay State: whether or not to set safe patient limits for nursing care in hospitals. Question 1, backed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, would require hospitals to limit the number of patients assigned to each nurse depending on the type of hospital unit and acuity of patients.

OFNHP President Adrienne Enghouse and Kaiser Westside Medical Center RN Courtney Smith flew to Boston to help with the Get Out The Vote Efforts for the #YesOn1 campaign.