The striking nurses at the Harlan ARH picket line had visitors from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and the United American Nurses (UAN) Wednesday evening, who made the trip to show their support for the Harlan nurses.

The visitors included NYSNA President Barbra Crane, NYSNA Program Director Lorraine Seidel and Terri Hogle from the UAN.

The visitors took time to listen to the nurses' issues. Crane and Seidel also related some stories about a strike that they had been through. They also mentioned how impressed they were with the picket line in Harlan.

"You know, we heard that you were trying to maintain a 24/7 picket line," Crane said. "We couldn't do it with 480 nurses. My hat's off to you that you can do this at more than one entrance."

"The fact is that nurses are about caring," Hogle said. "They're not about coming out here like they have to. They were forced out here."

Hogle talked about how important the nurses are and what they mean to their patients and what their patients mean to them.

Representatives from ARH had no comment regarding the visitors.