Critical care nurse Martha Wydra is a comprehensive leader, standing up and speaking out for her fellow 1199SEIU members, coworkers, patients and community.

“Martha is a tremendous talent at her facility and in our union,” said DeQuasia Canales, 1199SEIU Vice President. “She combines the perfect amounts of compassion, resilience, intelligence, drive and so many other traits to be a leader and extraordinary nurse.”

Wydra has earned various honors at UHealth Tower, the 560-bed academic-based flagship hospital of the University of Miami Health System, including Nurse Preceptor of the Year, the Daisy Award – a prestigious honor given to nurses who perform outstanding work, and is known as the wound care champion at the medical center because of her expertise, skill and focus on preventive measures.

An RN for about 15 years, she recently earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), the highest clinical degree in nursing, from Nova Southeastern University (NSU). Wydra pursued the advanced education because “knowledge is power” to better understand research, clinical and even administrative issues and consequently better serve her patients and coworkers.

A member of 1199SEIU since 2011, she helped pay for the graduate programs and earn the higher degrees through the union’s Training and Upgrading Fund.

She is a proud mother of four, with a son serving as a firefighter and paramedic in Florida, a college-athlete daughter working on a criminal justice degree, and two young ones still at home and in school.

Wydra also is the founder of Wings To Freedom Foundation, helping victims of domestic abuse find a path away from danger and toward safety and healing. “The name of the foundation says it all. As a survivor, I want victims to know they don’t have to endure the terrible trauma and violence,” she says. “We offer life-saving support for these victims and their families.”

A longtime leader in her facility and community, Wydra also has become an active spokesperson to protect the rights and well-being of her coworkers and fellow Floridians. She has been appalled and triggered by the attacks on healthcare, immigrant community members and working families in general by the Trump Administration and GOP majorities in Washington, D.C. and Tallahassee.

“Their Big Ugly Bill rips healthcare and essential services away from millions of Americans so a few billionaires can get even bigger tax breaks,” she says. “As a nursing professional, this is especially appalling.”

An immigrant herself as a native of Colombia, government intimidation and violent abductions by masked ICE agents, is truly rattling. “These are the same fear tactics used by the very worst regimes in Latin America and around the world where nobody feels safe or secure. It shouldn’t be like this in the United States.”   

In recent months, Wydra has been a featured speaker at community rallies and has been interviewed on these issues as a topic expert by numerous local, national and international news outlets.

“It is a critical time in our workplaces, our communities and in our nation,” she says. “We all need to be leaders in some way to speak up and stand up for our coworkers, patients and our own families.”

 

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