Nursing leaders participating in a workshop learned how to strengthen school mentorship programs to improve graduation and National Council Licensure Exam passage rates among underrepresented students enrolled in nursing programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN)-serving institutions.

AARP and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sponsored the Mentoring for Success with Schools of Nursing workshop Sept. 10-11, 2024, at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

While the Campaign’s mentor-training workshops have reached nursing programs at more than 100 schools, this gathering was the first time that leaders from HBCUs, HSIs, and AIAN’s met together in person. Attendees also included leaders from the Campaign’s state-based coalition, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and several national nursing organizations.

The Campaign and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and Health Resources and Services Administration have collaborated since 2018 to improve mentorship programs among  underrepresented students.

Many students from backgrounds underrepresented in nursing face social and academic barriers that make it difficult to stay in school. The six-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time undergraduate students who began their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree-granting institution lag for Hispanic (54%), Black (40%), and American Indian/Alaska Native students (39%) compared with Asian (74%) and white students (64%).

Mentoring programs are a proven strategy to improve retention and promote academic success, thereby increasing representation in the nursing workforce and advancing health equity in rural and underserved communities.

In addition, mentoring programs can result in more students graduating and transitioning into academic and practice settings, thereby combatting persistent nursing workforce shortages undermining care.  

The First Day

The first day of the workshop covered key topics relevant to nursing schools, including NCLEX outcomes and strategies, navigating public and institutional policies, and positioning students as future faculty. Participants learned strategies for submitting effective grant proposals, explored review criteria, and discussed common application mistakes. Participants learned fundraising and grant writing skills. They developed preliminary grant applications using tips and suggestions from facilitators.

To help the schools improve their NCLEX passage rates, a representative from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing discussed the results of the Next Generation NCLEX in a panel with nursing leaders, who shared their approaches to increasing student success in preparing for and passing the exam.

Deans and faculty explored early mentoring and recruitment opportunities to develop future faculty members and prepare students for faculty careers. A nursing faculty shortage exacerbates the nursing shortage: nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applicants in 2023 due to a shortage of faculty available to teach them.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there are nearly 2,000 full-time faculty vacancies. Estimates project one-third of the nursing faculty workforce in baccalaureate and graduate programs would retire by 2025. As a result, participants learned strategies to tap into their current students as future faculty.

Day two of the workshop focused on providing mentoring refreshers tailored to the needs of AIAN, HBCU and HSI faculty. Each of the three breakout sessions were conducted as facilitated discussions to engage faculty in dialogues designed to meet the needs of students in their unique programs.

AIAN Breakout

The AIAN breakout session provided an overview, analysis, and assessment of the AIAN mentoring curriculum. The session highlighted successful mentoring programs and, using case studies, offered participants a framework for effective curriculum implementation. Additionally, participants explored practice partnerships that support academic success, highlighting how schools can collaborate with Indian Health Services, health systems and other partners

HBCU BREAKOUT

Thirty-nine participants represented HBCUs. Each nursing school described their student mentoring programs and shared their success stories and challenges. Following this dialogue, participants engaged in a role-play of pre-planned scenarios related to common issues students may experience. These included fostering mentoring relationships, establishing mentoring agreements, mentor-mentee matching, and dealing with students’ academic challenges. These scenarios enabled faculty to apply their understanding of successful mentoring practices to familiar situations. The session concluded with two pre-recorded videos featuring students who described how participating in mentoring programs benefited them.

HSI Breakout

The HSI breakout session consisted of four presentations about strategies for nursing students’ success: enrollment and recruitment, collaborations and partnerships, the CliftonStrengths assessment tool to help mentees discover their strengths to maximize their potential, and the circle of mentorship. The last session discussed using mentorship programs to recruit and retain faculty. Participants also discussed other strategies to recruit and retain faculty, such as ensuring schools offer competitive compensation packages, provide education and research opportunities and promote nurse well-being and work-life balance. New faculty also can apply to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Diversity Leadership Institute.  

Evaluation

One hundred forty-four participants attended the meeting. Seventy-two percent completed the workshop program evaluation; 82% rated the workshop as excellent and said the objectives were achieved.

Participants rated the conference objective most highly (90% excellent): “Compare and contrast cultural frameworks that enhance the mentoring of students from underrepresented backgrounds, ensuring everyone feels included.” This rating was evidence of the success of the workshop’s focus on mentoring for the success of underrepresented students.

Respondents identified the following recommendations they would like to incorporate to improve the mentoring programs at their universities:

• More structured support: Mentees or mentors suggested that their program could benefit from clearer guidelines or more structured sessions.
• Additional resources: More resources, such as workshops, mentor training, or opportunities for mentees to connect with other participants, are needed.
• Better mentor-mentee matching: Some responses recommended refining the process for pairing mentors with mentees to ensure they are well suited in terms of personality or goals.

Finally, a recurring theme was how the mentoring relationship contributed to personal and professional development. Mentees shared how they felt more prepared for challenges they faced in life or work, and thanks to their mentor’s guidance, they achieved their professional or personal milestones.

Workshop Takeaways

The workshop offered participants opportunities to network, share strategies, and explore solutions. For example, nursing educators from two different schools discussed the possibility of sending qualified nursing applicants that were turned away from one school due to space constraints to the other school, which had openings. A nursing leader expressed support for a statewide initiative to create a centralized database or use the NursingCAS system to match qualified nurse applicants with available spots at schools, ensuring capacity limits do not prevent qualified candidates from enrolling in nursing school.

In addition, AARP will host a 2025 grant-writing workshop. This workshop will further AARP’s efforts to improve student outcomes, address the nursing faculty shortage and expand nursing program capacity.

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How can we make real progress on critical health care priorities like advancing health equity, diversifying the nursing workforce, mitigating the workforce crisis through the recruitment and retention of nurses, and elevating the concept of equity-minded nurses?

“One way is to bring nurses and their champions together to brainstorm solutions to these issues — because nurses are natural problem solvers,” says Susan Reinhard, senior vice president and director, AARP Public Policy Institute and chief strategist, Center to Champion Nursing in America and Family Caregiving Initiatives.

“Then, we can help them create specific action plans to make those solutions a reality.”

That was the thinking behind the AARP Health Equity and Nursing Summit: Turning Commitments into Action, held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at AARP in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing^SM (A-CHEN) and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the event brought together leaders from around the country to create health equity action plans for their workplaces, communities and networks. More than 150 summit participants were drawn from nursing, health care delivery, business, unions, social services, social justice and consumer organizations.

The conference opened with singer-songwriter Tad Worku, FNP-BC, an emergency department nurse who brings together song and health care to inspire and heal. Worku set the tone for the conference, speaking and singing about finding his purpose in nursing and serving others. He shared his story of leaving a promising career in music, working with musicians and producers who created hits for stars like Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson, and on the brink of signing a major touring contract for his band, but feeling a lack of meaning his life. So he turned to nursing, and has since combined his two passions of serving others through nursing and singing, and never looked back.

Then attendees rolled up their sleeves and began to hone their plans in interactive workshops that included Becoming an Equity-Minded Nurse, Progressing Seamlessly in Nursing as a Career to Achieve Financial Security, Effectively Addressing the Social Determinants of Health, and the Role Nurses Can Play in Informing the Public of Important Benefits and Services.

In these workshops, participants crafted specific health equity goals, along with metrics and timetables for achieving them. Goals include addressing structural racism to achieve workforce health equity, making health equity a strategic priority within participants’ organizations, developing a loan or debt-free program for rural and/or other underserved communities, increasing the number of American Indian nurses in particular states and creating a network of change agents that connects people, practice, and community partners to achieve health equity goals.

Because few goals can be accomplished alone, workshop members brainstormed potential allies and stakeholders who could help them achieve their objectives. For example, one workshop recommended engaging Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ schools of nursing in population-based approaches to achieve health equity and dismantle structural racism. Other participants decided that forging relationships with key leaders could bring along others who share their mission to advocate for health equity. And, since obstacles can arise in route to a person’s goals, workshop leaders helped participants anticipate educational, institutional and personal barriers that might prevent them from achieving their objectives and think of how to overcome them.

Participants also considered actions they could take to make their goals a reality. Examples included bringing their workshop discussions to their boards for further action, collaborating with their local college Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) organization, implementing cultural competence, diversity and inclusion training programs and workshops for nursing faculty, and deepening expertise in health care payment models to drive economic incentives for better health.

The larger environment in which summit participants must operate to achieve their health equity goals was considered as well. In another panel, Remaining Committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, facilitated by Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, FAAN, CEO, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, leaders from the nursing world, AARP and AARP Foundation examined how attendees could remain committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, given the current climate. They shared lessons they had gleaned from confronting racism in their own workplaces and personal lives.

Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, president and CEO of the National League for Nursing, recounted how she dealt with racism overseeing a hospital maternal child unit. Her staff shared that a senior white physician on her unit was instructing the black staff not to touch his white patients. The staff said, “You told us you would make things different, so what do you plan to do about this?”  Because the offending physician was very high-ranking, she thought carefully about how to approach him.

Malone finally decided on an indirect approach. In private, she said, “Doctor, there is an unbelievable rumor going around that you told your black staff not to touch your white patients. It is so devastating that that rumor is going around.” He responded, “Oh my goodness, no, I would never do that!” Malone said, “I didn’t think that you would.”  Following their conversation, he never did so again.

Her takeaway?

“We have to find ways to share with people. Civility is very important, but it does not keep you from telling the truth. Whatever you need to do, do it. We must find ways to help others clean up their behavior.”

Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP-BC, FAAN, a neonatal nurse practitioner and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation senior nurse scholar, shared a harrowing experience she had with a close friend who experienced health issues in her second trimester of pregnancy. Her friend, an African American woman, called Darcy-Mahoney complaining of dizziness and feeling unwell after her ob-gyn had instructed her to watch and wait in the face of these concerns. Alarmed, Darcy-Mahoney told her to go to urgent care to be assessed by a clinician. She also advised her friend to introduce herself and her husband with their professional titles (both formally referred to as doctor) to ensure that she was listened to and cared for with less bias. Her friend was treated for hypertension and delivered a healthy baby. Darcy-Mahoney explained

“All the things I had been taught about racism in health care manifested in this situation. I know the system and I wanted her to be safe in that system. For me, how we, in the maternal-child space, listen to people or don’t, have powerful implications on outcomes.”

As panelist Edna Kane Williams, MA, executive vice president and chief diversity officer at AARP observed about efforts to achieve health equity in the current climate, “This work isn’t for the faint of heart. Folks have lost the ability to be civil, persistent, and loud. And to persevere. It is not time to sit on the sidelines. Our way of life is being challenged every day. It is exhausting but so necessary. Whether you are a PhD, an RN, or a DNP – everybody can play a role – yet too many of us have decided to stay quiet.”

To make meaningful progress in advancing health equity, we must also consider those populations that have been most severely affected by racial inequity in health care. That’s why the summit hosted a panel entitled, “Health Equity Across Populations,” to lift up the voices of nursing leaders from LGBTQ+, Asian American Pacific Islander, and Black communities. These leaders highlighted health disparities experienced by the historically marginalized populations they represent and suggested steps we can take to improve health equity for them.

For Kelly Haviland, PhD, FNP-BC, TGNB-C, executive committee member of the Nursing Section of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Health Equality, the biggest priority is to ensure that we gather data pertaining to LGBTQ+ people for epidemiologic research. These data are needed so that we can understand the health status and care delivery experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Yet, the US Census doesn’t collect them, nor do many other national databases.

“We need to collect data in a consistent way in our electronic health records and do so in a safe, warm and welcoming way,” she said. “Educating nurses about LGBTQ+ health disparities is important, because, if you lack the data, you lack the proof to show that LGBTQ health disparities should be priorities.”

Jing Wang, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of the Asian American Pacific Islander Nurses Association, is committed to building diversity in the nursing profession through recruitment and mentorship. In her role as Florida State University College of Nursing Dean, she says,

“I focus on recruiting leaders from diverse groups and making sure that, as a dean, they are successful in their academic careers. I’ve learned so much from these leaders in my own career and had many mentors teach me how to become a leader and a dean. I was very shy and introverted when I started out, so if I can do it, anyone can.”

Sheldon D. Fields, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of the National Black Nurses Association, is optimistic about the prospects that we can dismantle racism in nursing. He says, “As a profession, nursing has a moral and societal obligation to ensure that we are training a workforce that mirrors the society that we are and are becoming. I look at nursing and ask, how did we get here for so long with the underrepresentation of people of color within this profession? Where did all the gatekeeping to this profession start and how do we dismantle it?”

“For the rest of my career I will do everything I can to diversify the nursing profession. Nursing has a moral and ethical obligation to address this lack of diversity, and we are simply not there yet. But we have finally found the road and we are on it.”

Adrianna Nava, PhD, MPA, RN, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, envisions her organization becoming a national leader in Latino health — one that policymakers can look to for advice on Latino health issues. She is building a larger footprint in Washington and at the state and local levels. “Nurses need larger networks and leadership skill sets to be able to bring about policy change. Our organization is helping student and practicing nurses build both of those so we can impact our profession and the communities we serve,” she said.

The summit panelists are hopeful about the changes that nurses are leading to create greater health equity throughout our society. Yet, as Staci Alexander, MPA, vice president, AARP Global Thought Leadership, notes,

“Health equity remains elusive in this country more than two decades after the seminal study by the National Academy of Medicine, Unequal Treatment, was conducted. While we remain more committed than ever to achieving this goal, we need your help.”

Learn more about getting involved with the Campaign for Action.

_{^{Photo credits: Greg Kahn for AARP.}}

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The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is pleased to announce it is accepting applications for a new award program, co-sponsored by nursing organizations, that will recognize nurses who are helping lead the way to health equity through practice, education, research or leadership. We hope you will consider applying, nominating someone, or sharing word of the program with others who may be interested.

Five winners in separate categories will receive $1,000 each, plus paid travel to and attendance at the Campaign’s health equity summit in Washington, D.C., where awardees will be recognized at a reception. The AARP Health Equity and Nursing Summit: Turning Commitments into Action is scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at AARP’s National Office. The conference will bring together leaders from health care delivery, nursing, unions, business, social services, social justice and consumer organizations to identify evidence-based solutions to the problems of disparities in health care delivery and access.

The Campaign launched an equity-minded nurse initiative in 2022 as part of its work to implement recommendations from the National Academy of Medicine report, the Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. The Campaign defines equity-mindedness for nurses as so deeply understanding and embracing health equity, social justice, anti-racism, and cultural humility that these concepts emerge as normalized, automatic and default thought processes no matter the setting or the group of people they work with. In addition, AARP has launched the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing^SM, known as A-CHEN.

Individuals can apply or nominate others for an award beginning July 17 through Aug. 18. The Campaign will convene reviewers for each award category to evaluate applications and select winners, who will be notified in September.  

The award categories are: 

• The Equity-Minded Rising Star for student or early career nurses whose contributions show promise for ongoing impact in reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. This award is co-sponsored by the National League for Nursing.

• The Equity-Minded Practice Award for a nurse whose work with patients, families and/or communities exemplifies efforts to reduce health disparities and advance health equity.

• The Equity-Minded Research Award for a nurse researcher whose scholarship advances science knowledge that advances health equity.

• The Equity-Minded Educator Award for a nurse educator whose efforts demonstrate excellence in diversifying the nursing student body, inclusive teaching/learning practices, and whose teaching and/or curriculum design includes topics that lead to the graduation of equity-minded nurses. This award is co-sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (Updated: July 27, 2023).

• The Equity-Minded Leader Award for a nurse who is a catalyst for change at the systems or organization level to address and dismantle policies and structures that contribute to disparities and inequities. This award is co-sponsored by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.

For more information about the award program, please see the frequently asked questions on the Campaign’s website.  

We thank you for your interest and hope you will consider applying or nominating someone.

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Americans have identified nurses as the most trusted profession, in or out of health care, every year for the last two decades. But nurses across the country are exhausted, discouraged and leaving their roles or the profession in droves. It is time for a re-calibration. Read about ten things that some nurses said the public, patients and their friends and families can do to support nurses. These ten ideas are distilled from 75 nurses’ responses to in a recent, informal online survey, and described by Cynda Rushton PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN,  a professor and chair at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Susan Reinhard PhD, RN, FAAN, chief strategist for the Center to Champion Nursing in America, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that runs the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of the same organizations.

Read their post at the AARP Public Policy Institute’s Thinking Policy blog.

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Contact: Mary Boyle, CCNA Communications Director at mboyle@aarp.org

The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing^SM and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), have awarded nearly $700,000 to 15 projects (updated August 15, 2023) offering promising solutions aimed at eliminating structural inequities, particularly structural racism, within the nursing profession, health systems, or community, and for projects that  help improve  access to care and services for those most disproportionately impacted by  health disparities. Projects also support the advancement of one or more of the recommendations in the National Academy of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity.

Structural racism is pervasive within the nation’s health and health care systems, and despite progress, still poses significant barriers to health and wellbeing for far too many. Additionally, health and wealth disparities disproportionately affect people of color, as well as older Americans, women, people with low-income, those with disabilities, those from LGBTQ communities, and those who live in isolated rural communities.

The 15 winning projects are from: California (3), District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland (2), Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin (2). (Update August 15, 2023) Read more about the projects and recipients.

“This is our first time offering this award and we received an impressive number of applications addressing a range of issues and potential solutions,” said Susan C. Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN, senior vice president and director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, and chief strategist at the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) and Family Caregiving Initiatives. “It’s clear to me that nursing recognizes its role and is committed to advancing health equity. It’s an exciting time for our profession, and for the Campaign and the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing. We have work to do, and we are all in.” 

“Longer, healthier lives are not just the result of individuals making healthy choices,” said Jean Accius, PhD, senior vice president for AARP Global Thought Leadership. “Good health and longevity are simply not available to everyone in this country. There are structural barriers and biases in the health care system and how it’s funded.” He continued, “I am very proud of AARP’s commitment to supporting nurses in the fight against health disparities.”

“Nurses are everywhere in our communities – from the bedside to our schools and in board rooms,” said Beth Toner, RN, MSN, MJ, and senior communications officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). “They see firsthand the impact of the structural injustices baked into the systems that impact health. At RWJF, we understand that their expertise and innovation are absolutely essential to dismantling structural racism within our health systems and beyond,” she continued. “And for the same reasons, we are helping to fund these awards. The innovation, passion and commitment we see in all these grantees is exactly what I expect from nurses.”

The awards will be administered by the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) at the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing. (Read more below.)

For more information and to learn about individual projects, go to campaignforaction.org/health-equity-innovations-fund.

The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing serves as a vehicle for change and national resource for advancing health equity.  CCNA is an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and it runs the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of the same organizations building a healthier America through nursing. Since its founding in 2007, CCNA has created national and state multi-sector networks to stimulate collaboration, innovation and spur action for better health and well-being through nursing.

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What actions can nurses take to advance health equity?

Answers to this question were the focus of Building Equity in Nursing and Health Care Leadership, a December 1 summit sponsored by AARP and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Sponsors included AHIP, The Leapfrog Group, UnitedHealth Group, and The Joint Commission.

Summit participants included frontline nurses; nurse managers, educators, and employers; leaders in government, business, and professional organizations; and members of the Campaign’s state Action Coalitions, who are at the forefront of advancing health equity. Their calls to action were personal, programmatic, or focused on policy. Here are a few highlights of what they said.

Nurses need a stronger voice, said Mix, who believes all nurses have a role to play in advancing health equity. In her keynote address, she said the COVID-19 pandemic had produced a shift in nurses’ sense of self-worth. “Nurses have seen how valuable we actually are,” she said. “We have to do a better job of helping people understand what it means to be a nurse and the value that [we] add.”

Another powerful call to action came from Tasheeba Mongeon, who works at a federally qualified health center in Rochester, NY. Mongeon described what she learned caring for underinsured patients, many of them Black patients.  “It’s really not fair for us to judge anyone else…because we don’t know what happened to that person. No one wakes up and says, I want to be homeless today. No one wakes up and says, I may harm myself today,” Mongeon told attendees. How does she view her job as a Black nurse concerned about health equity? “To advocate for [my patients], to provide support, to jump in there before something happens.”

Beard recalled conversations with her grandfather, a Black man who refused to seek health care despite his cancer-related pain because “they don’t treat me the way that I should be treated,” he told her. Beard called racism “the elephant in the room,” and said the time had come for institutions to decide who within their ranks will take responsibility for addressing the problem.

Diversifying the health care workforce to address disparities in care is a strategy the Campaign has long embraced, but its implementation is still a work in progress. Another summit panelist, J. Margot Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN, Tyson Endowed Termed Chair for Gerontological Research and Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, proposed a related call to action. She urged nurse researchers to examine what specific skills and strategies nurses of color employ with their patients and for these effective practices to be standardized. “Are they building trustful relationships? Is it something about their communication patterns? Are they using deep, different teaching or motivational interview tactics? It’s not that they just show up in their melanated skin and they’re magic.”

How can a health system advance health equity? Luminis Health offers vivid examples.

1. It adopted a version of the National Football Association’s Rooney Rule, requiring search committees to recruit a qualified candidate with an ethnic-minority background for the finalist pool of every leadership vacancy in the health system.
2. Luminis got rid of a tardiness policy that disproportionately resulted in the termination of staffers using public transportation. Many of these employees were people of color.
3. When Luminis realized it wasn’t reaching people of color during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health system upended the prevailing policy of requiring a doctor’s appointment and referral for a COVID-19 test or vaccine. The system opened the first drive-up, walk-in test site in their community—no appointment needed. Then they went to barber shops, food distribution sites, and day-laborer gathering points “to truly meet people where they were,” Richmond said.

The health system continues to engage in rapid-cycle improvement to make its service delivery more equitable, in part through the Leaders in Equity and Diversity (LEAD) Collaborative, an initiative spearheaded by Meritus Health and Luminis Health with AARP’s support. “There is urgency,” to advancing health equity, Richmond said. “We have just gone through a pandemic, and it’s not over. And guess what? Racism is our second pandemic that we have to address as urgently as we have been addressing COVID.”

“We all have to [focus] on data, because data is what’s going to show that impact,” Jerde told summit attendees. To track where and how many United Health Group enrollees are referred to community-based services, the insurer created an ICD-10 medical code to track referrals related to social determinants of health.

Data is prioritized at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey as well. They track activities related to health equity using 33 performance metrics, 15 of which sit on a scorecard. “Executive compensation is tied to those metrics,” said DeAnna Minus-Vincent, MPA, Executive Vice President, Chief Social Justice and Accountability Officer, RWJBarnabas Health. “That’s why accountability is in my title.”

Elevating data collection and the self-reporting of demographic information is critical to advancing health equity, in the view of Rear Admiral Mix. “How can you say that you’ve had an impact on a particular population if you haven’t collected the data that actually tells that story?” she asked.

Richmond, President at Luminis, agreed but cautioned those in attendance not to become paralyzed by the search for perfect data. They should set priorities and act when the data is “good enough.”

As an accrediting body most closely associated with efforts to improve patient safety and the quality of care, The Joint Commission’s decision to make health equity its number one strategic priority speaks volumes. “We’ve been bold enough to say, this is [about] quality and patient safety. [Health care organizations] cannot choose to address central line infections and not address disparities in health care,” McKee asserted.

In January 2023, her organization will release a set of requirements aimed at reducing health care disparities. Every health care organization will need to put leadership in place to address the disparities and collect data to demonstrate the impact of health equity initiatives. McKee said some health care entities are already engaged in these activities, others want to be engaged but don’t know what to do, and still others don’t believe they have a problem. “That’s what makes this work really challenging and interesting,” she said.

For many nurses, speaking out can be hard. “We don’t want to say anything for fear of retaliation, because if I talk up, then I might lose my job,” said Taquana Holley, DNP, MSN, RN, Clinical Educator, Critical Care for the Center for Professional Development Innovation and Research, Monmouth Medical Center. She urged other nurses to overcome that fear. “Sometimes you have to kick down the door and let them know, Hey, I’m here, and I’m telling you, I want to do this.”

Many of the participants also called on nurses to be mentors and sponsors, develop leadership pipelines, and build their own support teams. Jean Accius, PhD, Senior Vice President, Global Thought Leadership, AARP, who was instrumental in supporting the summit, urged attendees to build relationships that bridge divides. “Identify someone in our workplaces, who doesn’t look like us, who is not from our background or walk of life, and create an opportunity for mentorship and reverse mentorship. You both will benefit,” he said.

These calls to action were music to the ears of Campaign leaders.

Several panelists urged everyone in attendance to read the Future of Nursing report and to use the Campaign’s Health Equity Toolkit. Since the National Academy of Medicine released its 2021 report, The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, the Campaign’s state Action Coalitions and other stakeholders have been working to spur action on the report’s recommendations. To facilitate this effort, the Campaign created a Health Equity Toolkit with resources and information to help communities address the social determinants that influence people’s health and an Action Hub with additional resources. Both can provide a foundation for health equity initiatives by individuals and groups.

The health equity summit was organized by Winifred Quinn, PhD, FAANP(H), FAAN, Director, Advocacy & Consumer Affairs, Center to Champion Nursing in America (CNNA), an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that runs the Campaign for Action, and Mary Anderson, JD, Director, Advocacy, AARP Illinois. Reflecting on the gathering, Quinn observed, “This event was an important step in engaging a variety of stakeholders in the effort to improve care quality and outcomes and to advance health equity through a robust, diverse nursing workforce.”

Jazmine Cooper, MBA, CCNA’s Project Advisor for Advocacy & Consumer Affairs, who served as the event’s emcee, noted that mentoring was highlighted as a key strategy for building that workforce, and she expressed optimism about the future. “We will continue to create a safe space to have difficult conversations and explore solutions to address health disparities, racism, and improving health equity,” she said.  

Fauteux is founder and principal at Propensity, LLC, a communications firm serving educational institutions and nonprofits focused on health care, health policy, and the health professions.

Reinhard is senior vice president and director of AARP Public Policy Institute and chief strategist for the Center to Champion Nursing in America and Family Caregiving Initiatives.

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Attendees at the American Academy of Nursing’s annual policy conference expect insightful commentary. This year, presenters delivered drama and emotion as well. The Academy kicked off the October meeting with four presentations in the popular Ted Talk format, and judging from the chatter in the hallways, the audience of roughly 1,200 people from 16 countries was both moved and impressed.

In keeping with the conference theme, From Reflection to Impact: Positioning Nursing’s Future, four nurse leaders shared their experiences of “failing forward” as they built their courageous careers. Here are some highlights from their presentations, plus video of each of their full presentations.

“I just want to illuminate the problem.”

Paul Leon, BSN, PHN, wanted to become a hospital executive, but his hours as a critical care nurse were not compatible with earning an MBA. He decided to become a public health nurse in Orange County, California. The job gave him regular hours and regular contact with people living on the streets.

One chilly March night, Leon was called to a public park to assist a mother with two sick children. With no resources to give them, he promised to return the next day, but when he got home that evening, Leon broke down. As someone who had moved at least eight times a year while in junior high school, he understood too well what his clients were going through.

As Leon’s wife tried to comfort him, she asked what he wanted to do. “I just want to illuminate the problem,” he replied, and the idea to start a nonprofit was born that night. Leon founded the Illumination Foundation in 2008 and set about disrupting the cycle of homelessness in Orange County and surrounding areas. The organization provides shelter, medical services, case management, and assistance in locating permanent housing, and it has become a leading provider of recuperative care to homeless individuals following a hospital stay.

The foundation’s impact on individual lives has been palpable.  Leon described one client who had been isolated from family and friends for so long when he entered the recuperative care program that it took him weeks to engage with staff. When the breakthrough came, it was profound. “’You guys put clean bandages on my wound,’ the man said. ‘You let me sleep in a warm nice bed, and you touched me. You made me feel human,’” Leon told attendees.

Today Leon is one of two Campaign for Action senior health equity fellows, and he has achieved his dream of becoming an executive. His current title is CEO of National Healthcare & Housing Advisors (NHHA), which is striving to integrate the delivery of health care and homeless care services across the nation.

Between 40,000 and 100,000 men, women, and children die on the streets in the United States each year, Leon told attendees. His courageous career has spared many that fate.

“My name is Felesia Bowen, and I want to be a dean.”

Felesia Bowen’s, PhD, ARNP, FAAN, talk began with a story from her student days.  She recalled watching a hospitalized nine-year-old brushing her teeth and coming to the realization that the girl lived in a house without running water. She knew she had to speak up or the girl would be discharged to an environment where she would almost certainly develop an infection. “Because of my lived experience, I knew that she didn’t have plumbing in her house,” she said. “That’s what a diverse nursing workforce does.”

Fast forward, Bowen became a nurse and eventually accepted a tenure-track position on the faculty of a well-known institution. She was one of three Black full-time faculty members. She obtained funding for research on health disparities, published her findings, and was invited to be a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Scholars Program. Then one day, a colleague called to say she wouldn’t be recommended for tenure. Bowen was crushed.  “In that moment, I felt worthless,” she said, and she felt confused, because she had done the work expected of academics.

When the phone rang a few weeks later, Bowen received a job offer from a university 11 hours away from her home.  With two children still in school, she weighed the offer carefully, consulted her husband and her mentors, and ultimately decided to take a chance on the opportunity.  Within a year, she was nominated and inducted into the Academy, and several years later, she was recruited into her current position.

“So, what’s the moral of my story?” she asked attendees. “Don’t let others define you, your work, or your worth…. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way… Go for it.”

She closed with a message to nursing school deans who say they want a diverse nursing workforce. “You need to recruit diverse faculty, and when you get them, foster them, set them up for success,” she urged. “Make people feel like they belong so that they’ll stay. Do the same thing for your students.”

“I failed to ask for help from others around me.”

By any measure, Sheila Burke, MPA, BSN, FAAN, has had a stellar career—as health policy specialist and later chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and as executive dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, to name just a few of the positions she has held.

Early on, she chose to pursue a career in policy, leaving hospital nursing for an opportunity to work with the National Student Nurses Association. From there, she headed to the U.S. Senate, where she was often the only woman in the room. She found mentors who helped her survive in that “boys club” and learned the hard way about the value of compromise when her views on welfare reform led to efforts to demonize her in the press.

Burke began her Academy talk by detailing a particularly painful experience from her time as chief operating officer of the Smithsonian Institution, which faced many challenges during her tenure. The institution had decided to renovate the Reynolds Building, which houses the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum. Millions of dollars had been spent and construction had begun when Burke was called before the D.C. Arts Commission to explain the project.

“I did so, and I failed,” Burke told attendees. Many months later, after visiting each member of the commission with the project architect at her side, the commission approved the project. Meanwhile, the price of steel had risen by $10 million. For Burke, the recognition that she was not always the right person to deliver a particular message “was a painful and a very expensive lesson.”

Other lessons learned? Looking back on her entire career, she stressed the importance of finding a mentor (and becoming one, too), asking for help, and learning to listen—all skills that are familiar to nurses.

“It’s amazing what nursing has prepared us to do,” she concluded. “[The ability to work in] teams is one of them, the ability to set priorities, the ability to listen, …the ability and willingness to take risks, to stand up. Every nurse is prepared to stand tall.”

“My whole life, I’m different.”

“I’m a product of assimilation laws,” Margaret Moss, PhD, RN, FAAN, told attendees, and as an American Indian in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, she stood out even before grew to be six-feet tall. At an early age, Moss and two other children from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation were adopted by a German American neurosurgeon and his Scottish/English wife and sent from North Dakota to live in Bethesda, an affluent Maryland suburb.

When Moss shared the circumstances of her upbringing with people in later life, they’d often say, “Your father was a surgeon, and you grew up in Bethesda. What could be wrong?”

“Well, a lot was wrong,” Moss would inform them.

A self-described “woman of a certain age,” Moss grew up at a time when American Indians were considered “colored” under Maryland law. She couldn’t drink out of certain fountains or go to the local water park and had to sit in the balcony if she went to the movies. At her Catholic school, she was told her people were savages.

Moss survived the experience, but her older siblings did not. “When we were growing up, no one ever asked us, ‘Are you okay?’ My siblings would have said, ‘No, we don’t feel safe,’ and they weren’t,” Moss recalled.

Moss currently lives and teaches in Canada, which has started down the path of acknowledging the wrongs done to its indigenous people. Canada established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015, which led to requiring mandatory health professions courses in indigenous thought, engagement, understanding, and knowledge. Moss teaches one of those courses and invites elders to share their experiences of boarding schools and Indian hospitals. She concludes the course with an indigenous “talking circle,” where every participant is invited to speak. She said half of her students leave the experience in tears.

“They’re like, ‘We had no idea. How come nobody ever told us?’” Moss explained. “I said, ‘Don’t worry. It’s by design you didn’t know, but now that you do know, it’s incumbent upon you to bring it forward.”

She urged attendees who want to create a sense of belonging for students, faculty, and other co-workers at their institutions to look for ways to better understand and acknowledge indigenous peoples’ experiences.

The Courageous Careers event was hosted by the Academy’s Institute for Nursing Leadership in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Future of Nursing Scholarship program and AARP. 

Susan Reinhard PhD, RN, FAAN, senior vice president and director, AARP Public Policy Institute and chief strategist, Center to Champion Nursing in America and Family Caregiving Initiatives, welcomed attendees. She encouraged them to apply for

Health Equity Innovations Fund grants from the new AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. Applications are due Nov. 15 before 10 p.m. ET.

The Campaign for Action, which is building a healthier America through nursing, was also a conference cosponsor. The Campaign is an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

View all video clips from the event.

The post “Failing Forward” appeared first on Campaign for Action.

In the wake of a national inflection point after the highly publicized killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020, nurses have become even more activated to leverage the potential of the nursing profession to advance health equity. In May 2021, the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine released the Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Health Equity. In it they stated, “A nation cannot fully thrive until everyone — no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make — can live the healthiest possible life. And helping people live their healthiest life is and has always been the essential role of nurses…. Nurses, then, have a critical role to play in achieving the goal of health equity” (p 3-4).

Health equity is an aspirational vision of what population health can be. To achieve health equity, we must address and solve health inequities which can be defined as the systemic, avoidable, and unjust social and economic policies and practices that create barriers to health (Braveman & Gruskin, 2003).  Health equity can only be achieved by a collective approach which embraces the wisdom of all healthcare disciplines, including nursing. At four million strong, the nursing profession has the potential to influence policy on the systems, structures, and communities in which they work. However, as Nikitas, Emmons, and Ackerman-Barger noted, “For far too long, nursing and nurses have observed the negative impact of health inequities and disparate outcomes without seeing themselves as drivers of change” (2022, p. 7). By adopting the concept of “equity-minded nurses” we can rewrite this script for ourselves and become central to constructing the health outcomes that align with our professional and personal values.

Equity-minded nurses are those with the knowledge, skills, and desire to advance health equity. Equity-minded nurses recognize themselves as informed and capable drivers of change who are uniquely poised to inform healthcare practice, policies, research, and educational standards. The term ‘equity-minded’ was coined by the Center for Urban Education and “refers to the mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who are willing to assess their own racialized assumptions, to acknowledge their lack of knowledge in the history of race and racism, to take responsibility for the success of historically underserved and minoritized student groups, and to critically assess racialization in the their own practices as educators and/or administrators” (McNair, Bensimon, Malcolm-Piqueux, 2020, p. 20).  Translated into nursing practice we might say that equity-minded nurses are

… those who are willing to assess their own racialized assumptions and recognize how these assumptions can impact their clinical decision making, to acknowledge the history of race and racism and how this history impacts current health outcomes, to take responsibility for the optimizing the health and wellness of historically underserved and minoritized individual patients, communities, and populations, and to critically assess racialization in their own practices as nurses, policy-makers, educators, researchers and/or leaders. 

Equity-minded nurses so deeply understand and embrace health equity, social justice, anti-racism, and cultural humility that these concepts emerge as normalized, automatic and default thought processes no matter the setting or the group of people they work with.

This is an exciting time in our development as a profession. The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,  has given us a call to action: “Achieving health equity will require serious reflection on our identities and responsibilities as nurses, nurse champions and contributing members of society. Then we will need the willpower to turn that reflection into action.”

Through blogs, webinars, and events, the Campaign will spend the next 12-months highlighting examples of how equity-minded nurses practice, innovate, collaborate, and most importantly, positively impact the health of individuals, families, and communities. We hope you will join us on this journey and exploration.

References

Braveman P., & Gruskin S. (2003). Defining equity in health. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 57, 254-258.

Campaign for Action (2022). Improving Health Equity. Retrieved from /issue/improving-health-equity/

Mcnair, T.B., Bensimon, E.M, and Malcolm-Piqueux, L. (2020). From equity talk to equity walk: Expanding practitioner knowledge for racial justice in higher education. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.

National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine. (2021).  Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Health Equity. Washington DC: National Academy of Medicine.

Nickitas D.M., Emmons, K.R., Ackerman-Barger, K. (2022, accepted, in press). A policy pathway: Nursing’s role in advancing diversity and health equity. Nursing Outlook.

The post The Rise of Equity-Minded Nurses appeared first on Campaign for Action.

Maleka Robinson, MSN, BSN, RN, and her daughter Marcella Garner, DNP, CCRN, RN, made New Jersey history earlier this year when they opened the first Black-owned mother-daughter, nurse-led clinic in the state.

Robinson, who has lived in East Orange, N.J., for 24 years, wanted to bring a medical clinic to her community, which has a shortage of health providers and health accessibility.

“Demand for services outweighs access, and some people often do not trust the medical system,” she said.  “We know our community and want to bridge that gap.”

Robinson renovated the first floor of her two-family home into a medical facility, and MGM Medical Center opened its doors in June. MGM stands for Marcella Garner and Monica, the names of Robinson’s two daughters.

Because Robinson and her daughter both work full-time in hospital settings, they keep the clinic open four-and-a-half days a week, each of them working there during their days off from the hospital. 

Robinson is an acute care hospitalist at Morristown Medical Center, and Garner is a family nurse practitioner at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

Their experiences caring for hospitalized patients inspired them to open a clinic focused on primary care and prevention.

“We see people at the end of the train and catch them at their lowest point,” Garner said. “We wanted to see patients earlier on, when we can encourage them to get routine physicals and lab work, and to eat right and exercise.  We want to educate patients and make them knowledgeable of how to take care of their hypertension, diabetes or asthma, so it doesn’t lead to worse conditions or hospitalizations.”

Ericia Williams, who lives in nearby Harrison, N.J., believes Robinson and Garner saved her life.  She suffers from anemia, which caused her hands to be cold and turn yellow. Iron pills, a common treatment, made her ill.  As a Black woman originally from the Caribbean, she wanted a provider who understood Black women’s health. She discovered MGM Medical on ZocDoc.com.

Williams went for her physical and completed lab testing. Garner called her the next morning at 6:00 a.m. to tell her that her hemoglobin was dangerously low and to go to the emergency room for a blood transfusion — and stayed on the phone with her until she got there.

The blood transfusion was successful, and Williams has since completed three of five iron infusions to bring her hemoglobin up to normal levels. She is working with Garner and Robinson to eat more iron-rich foods to maintain her iron levels.

Robinson and Garner “are caring, and they really listened,” Williams said. “They never rushed me, and they explained everything. I’ve told everyone from Brooklyn, where I grew up, you have got to check them out!”

Dea Turner, a chemist from Parsippany, N.J., similarly sought out a provider who understood her and her background after negative experiences with non-Black clinicians who criticized her weight based on unrealistic standards for her body type; her BMI is within the normal range.

“I get nervous going to a doctor, and they put me at ease,” Turner said. “They listened, they were attentive, and they let me say what I needed to say. [Garner] did encourage me to exercise more and to make sure I’m eating healthy, but she didn’t make me feel bad about it. She could relate to me and my background.”

Turner appreciates how the East Orange community can see Garner and Robinson and “imagine entering the medical field, too. It’s a good image for young people to see these women.”

Both Williams and Turner emphasized the importance of having a provider who looks like them, given the widespread health disparities affecting Black women. Research shows that Black nurses increase access to care and improve the quality of care Black patients receive.

The mother-daughter health team wants to address the disparities in care head on. Their initial goals are to make the East Orange community aware of the clinic, as well as to provide education on disease prevention and to refer patients, as needed, to services that address the many social determinants of health.

Their long-term goals are to hire an obstetrics/gynecology provider and nutritionist.  They want to provide exercise and nutrition classes and make the clinic a place people visit to stay healthy. They also want to encourage more people in their community to seek medical care.

“From growing up in East Orange and speaking to other people, we realized there was a mistrust of health care professionals,” Garner said. “We let people know we treat everyone with love and respect. If we build trust, patients start to ask us questions about their health.”

The clinic, which is transit accessible, accepts most insurance carriers, Medicare and Medicaid patients, and charges an $80.00 flat fee for patients without insurance.  Approximately 10 percent of patients self-pay, and 20 percent are on Medicaid ─ a number Robinson expects to increase.  It also partners with LabCorp, Quest and Acureference to offer patients without insurance a discount on lab tests.

Mervin Nelson, who lives in Newark and lacks insurance, sought out the clinic when he had a stomach infection and learned MGM Medical takes uninsured patients.

“They treated me right, and they made me feel welcome,” he said.  “A lot of places turn their back on you without insurance.”

Robinson’s and Garner’s impactful careers illustrate the power of nurses modeling and mentoring for each other and their communities. Robinson decided to become a licensed-practical nurse (LPN) after she saw an LPN helping a disabled woman grocery shop.  A young single mom, Robinson worked as an LPN, then returned to school for her RN, BSN, and then MSN to “be able to make a bigger impact,” she said. Robinson has also been a part of medical mission teams, including in Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic for over 12 years.

Garner fell in love with nursing after working in a nursing home as part of a health class elective she took in high school.

“Whether it was just chatting with a patient or getting them coffee, the patients were so appreciative, and it gave me great joy,” recalled Garner, who had intended to become a lawyer before taking the elective. “I told my Mom, ‘I get it. I understand why you’re a nurse, and I want to be one, too.’”

Garner was content with her bachelor’s degree and working in an ICU, but her mother told her she could make a larger impact by helping more patients to stay well with a doctorate of nursing degree.

“I trusted her, so I did it,” Garner recalled.  “We love our jobs.  We love helping our patients.”

The post Mother-Daughter Nurse-Led Clinic appeared first on Campaign for Action.

Nurses have been working with public schools to serve children for generations. In Massachusetts, nurses and school leaders used funding from the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action to improve the well-being of students, especially those living in communities with low health rankings. The Campaign is an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Since 2010, Massachusetts has required every public school to have a wellness committee that addresses topics of nutrition, physical activity, and any other issue that might affect student well-being. The Campaign’s Massachusetts Action Coalition leveraged its first Nursing Innovations Fund award to increase nurse leadership on these school wellness committees, focusing on communities that received low rankings in the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps project.

“This project aligned with a national movement to seek new leadership roles for nurses,” said Patricia Crombie, MSN, RN, project director with the Massachusetts Action Coalition. That movement included the Nurses on Boards Coalition filling more than 10,000 board seats or decision-making bodies with nurses whose strategic influence will improve the health of communities, plus additional focus by the Campaign and others to elevate nurse leaders.

“There has been a focus for several years among nurses developing leadership roles beyond the usual medical spaces,” Crombie said. “We were also developing relationships with many school nurses and public health nurses, so it all kind of came together when we saw an opportunity from the Campaign to help nurses pursue those leadership roles.”

Crucial to the success of the project was a partnership with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. This group was represented on the team by Joseph Baeta, Ed.D, superintendent of Norton Public Schools and Paul Vieira, Ed.D, superintendent of Douglas Public Schools.

Baeta said it had always bothered him that health was treated as an afterthought in school curricula. He explained that his district has taken the unusual step of instituting a year-long health class in freshman year conveying the message that it is as fundamental a subject as English or math.

Vieira agreed that the past few years have showed the state just how much nurses can do for schools. “They’re doing more than just Band-Aids and checking blood sugar,” he said. “They’re in classrooms. They’re educating staff. They’re developing curricula. They’re in planning meetings with teachers. They’re doing so many things behind the scenes to strengthen the school.”

The Massachusetts Action Coalition used its second Nursing Innovations Fund award one year later to focus on developing interventions to help school wellness committees address vaping, a top concern for school administrators.

The Action Coalition collaborated with partner organizations and school wellness committees to create a structure and process for vaping curriculum development. Its members then worked with representatives from partner organizations to create evidence-based, adaptive and developmentally appropriate curriculum based on existing state and national resources. The outcome was an Anti-Vaping Curriculum Resource Guide, which was evaluated and disseminated to school systems throughout the state.

Though the focus on the issue lessened somewhat because of the pandemic, Baeta said he anticipates that school administrators will have a much greater need for the curricula as they see their students are no less addicted than they were before COVID-19 lockdowns.

“It’s back full throttle,” he said.

In The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, the National Academy of Medicine highlighted schools as essential sites for addressing social determinants of health. The Massachusetts project shows that with the right partnerships in place, nurses and school leaders can effectively meet the diverse needs of schools throughout the state.

Forming those kinds of partnerships takes curiosity and humility, according to Maureen Sroczynski, DNP, RN, who served on the Norton Public Schools wellness committee with Baeta.

“Instead of going in and telling people what they should do, it’s more reaching out to the community and saying, how can we help you? How can we support what you are already doing?” she said.

Baeta believes that by boosting the visibility of school nurses, this program is deepening the community’s respect for their expertise and for the many different ways they can contribute to the well-being of students. To learn more about the Massachusetts Action Coalition’s project, visit the Nursing Innovations Fund webpage.

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