Kamala Harris Reaches Out to Nurse And Frontline Workers On Thanksgiving

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris has been extremely busy lately and she hasn’t even been sworn into office yet.

Last week, the California senator called a Bay Area teenager named Tyler Gordon after he posted a mural he painted and it went viral on Twitter. Over the weekend, Harris continued to reach out to a nurse in Chicago who is on the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus. After speaking with the nurse, Harris shared the conversation on her Instagram account.

“Earlier today @DouglasEmhoff and I called Talisa, a registered nurse in Chicago, and a few of our nation’s frontline workers to thank them for everything they have done in the fight against COVID-19. We won’t be able to get through this without them.”

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A post shared by Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris)

Bonnie Castillo, RN, who is Executive Director of National Nurses United (NNU), California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/ NNOC), also posted the interaction on her Facebook account.

“University of Chicago Medical Center RN Talisa Hardin spoke to Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris today. She let Talisa know that she and Joe Biden are looking forward to fully invoking the Defense Production Act to finally produce the PPE nurses on the front lines of Covid-19 so desperately need to protect ourselves and our patients.

“This holiday season, I am so deeply grateful for the powerful advocacy of nurses like Talisa. Our solidarity will see us through this crisis.”

An NNU representative told CNN that the phone call lasted 15 minutes.

“Talisa [Hardin] talked about how she and other nurses had to buy their own PPE because the hospital didn’t provide what they needed,” NNU wrote in a statement to CNN. “And Talisa [Hardin] said how this was disgraceful because you wouldn’t send a soldier into battle without gear.”