Nurses celebrated the 21 honorees, who were selected by their peers for exceptional patient advocacy and a dogged commitment to labor rights.

UFT Vice President Anne Goldman, who heads the Federation of Nurses/UFT, speaks about her early days in nursing: “I learned how vulnerable people are without a union.”

Maria Scudiero, a medical/surgical nurse at NYU Langone–Brooklyn, is honored as the Health Care Professional of the Year.

Raquel Webb-Geddes, the Homecare Nurse of the Year and the chapter leader for VNS Health, accepts her award and celebrates the recent VNS Health contract, which provided 15% raises for nurses over two years.

Jason Bauer, a hospice nurse at VNS Health, accepts his award for RN Advocate.

Nurses applaud the Retiree Nurse of the Year, Florencia Manulat.

“The world of health care is upside down,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew tells those in attendance. “The hospital executives are putting their profits and their bonus above proper staffing at the hospitals.”