Today is the National Day of Advocacy for Nurses and the end of National Nurses Week 2016. In the U.S., nurses number 3.4 million. New Mexico is home to some 22 thousand nurses. What does the American public think about these front-line health workers? This year and for many years past, nurses rank number one in Gallup poll’s honesty and ethics in professions survey--ahead of doctors, teachers, police officers and other highly regarded workers. Reporter Mary Lou brings us the story of New Mexico nurses on this important day.
Mary Lou Cooper reports on consumer issues for KSFR as well as on politics and elder affairs. She has worked for the U.S. Congress as well as for the Nevada and Tennessee legislatures, and remains a political junkie. She worked many years for an association of Western state legislatures and was a contributor to “Capitol Ideas,” a national magazine about state government. In 2016 Cooper received a public service award from the New Mexico Broadcasting Association for her KSFR story on Internet romance scams. She has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and from the National Federation of Press Women. She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN and received her BA from Emory University in Atlanta and her MA from the University of Texas Austin. She also holds fiction and screenwriting certificates from the University of Washington.