Hundreds of Registered Nurses from throughout the Bay Area celebrated the birthday of Florence Nightingale May 12, with a protest rally at the downtown San Francisco office of pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
May 12th, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, has become the official day to honor nurses nationally, and on that day nurses throughout the Bay Area will hold a protest against the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson at their downtown San Francisco headquarters.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared May 12th San Francisco Nurses’ Day with a formal proclamation honoring the work of the California Nurses Association (CNA). “National Nurses Day has become trivialized by hospitals, which typically pay tribute to their nurses by giving out free coffee mugs and t-shirts,” said CNA President Deborah Burger, RN. “By honoring the legacy of the original nurse activist, Florence Nightingale, bed side RNs will be protesting the hypocritical policies of Johnson & Johnson.” Johnson & Johnson was a major contributor to a ballot initiative intended to silence the voices of nurses and other public employees from participating in the political process, a sharp contrast to their much-hyped image as an advocate for nurses.

Last year, after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed four bills that would have allowed Californians to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, Johnson and Johnson contributed almost $50,000 to defeat the measure. Now the industry has pledged $10 million to defeat a ballot initiative that would create drug price controls with real teeth. Johnson & Johnson has already donated $1.3 million to the campaign.
Photos | California Nurses Association