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 National Academy of Medicine’s Future of Nursing 2020—2023 report, published amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is subtitled, Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. As the largest and most trusted segment of the health care workforce, nurses have the power to break down barriers to advance health equity for all, that report says.

The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and RWJF, has seized on that mandate and launched the Equity-Minded Nurse initiative as part of that effort.

The phrase “equity-minded nurse” was coined by the Center for Urban Education and highlighted by Piri Ackerman-Barger, PhD, RN, FAAN in the Campaign’s inaugural blog post in a series by and about equity-minded nurses. Ackerman-Barger is the Campaign‘s senior health equity fellow and associate dean of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and clinical professor at the University of California Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

In this Policy Now video produced by the AARP Public Policy Institute, Ackerman-Barger explains the concept: “An equity minded nurse is someone who has the knowledge, the skills, and the desire to make really significant change across health settings.” She also explains that a diverse nurse workforce will play a powerful role in advancing health equity.

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The objectives of the American Indian Alaska Native Mentoring Curriculum are:

• Provide an overview of AI/AN historical, social, and political context and its influence on higher education experiences
• Provide guidance on culturally sensitive and responsive mentoring approaches, and teaching and learning strategies for faculty
• Provide guidance on strategies to support AI/AN student retention and academic success
• Provide information and resources on approaches for recruitment of AI/AN students

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As the calendar flips to August, America’s schools are preparing for a new academic year, the fourth one impacted by COVID-19.

School nurses are the front lines of public health and primary care, and the Campaign is pleased to share two blogs from a global school nurse researcher and board-certified advanced public health nurse who advocates for children living in vulnerable populations. The focus is the role of school nurses in addressing health inequities and mental health.

Before COVID, about one-third of the visits to the school nurse were for mental and emotional health concerns. Many times, the students had physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach aches, which were somatic symptoms for underlying stress and anxiety. In response to the volume of visits for emotional needs, some innovative solutions have emerged. For example, one school nurse worked with her school counselor to develop a program that taught children how to identify and manage stress and anxiety. Many of the techniques were taught to parents so the skills could be reinforced at home. And one school district created threat assessment teams at the district and school level consisting of a school nurse, school psychologist, school social worker, and school counselor. The team monitored each school and provided training to meet mental health concerns in their school. These are two examples of how school health was addressing the growing rise of mental health concerns before COVID.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during the pandemic, one in three youth reported poor mental health, with nearly half being consistently sad or hopeless. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry declared the U.S. to be in a national emergency related to mental health, while the U.S. Surgeon General indicated we are in a crisis. Calls have been made for increased mental health services for school-age children, with 38 states passing legislation to address mental health in schools. The laws vary in scope: some address health education, others fund increased services, and other laws focus on providing mental health training for school staff. Taskforces have been developed and solutions such as increasing screening and providing students with mental health days have been discussed.

What has been missing from the discussion is a holistic approach for addressing mental health, as well as the policies that may or may not be in place to support and sustain mental health in schools. Many of the mental health concerns students are facing are due to variety of reasons such as family economic struggles, disruption of their lives due to COVID and subsequent social isolation. These social factors are in addition to other causes such as pre-disposition, underlying chronic conditions or increased screen times. Researchers have found evidence that social media and internet use also impacts adolescents’ mental health, particularly girls.

The reality is a multi-pronged approach is needed to combat the current mental health crisis in schools. Traditionally, many aspects of school health have been siloed, where teachers, nutritionists, mental health workers, nurses, and others each focus on their own expertise but do not coordinate efforts. Community involvement, which brings in many providers, does not always work with or leverage the existing school health system. The CDC  developed a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model to emphasize the need to coordinate efforts. Students are whole persons with multiple forces at play. If we only address one aspect, we only put a band-aid on the situation.

The Center for School Health Innovation & Quality, a new initiative to advance the science and profession of school health, especially school nursing, in order to better serve all students, including those from underserved groups, recently worked with a Doctorate of Nursing Practice Student at George Washington University.

The student looked at the impact of mental health policies and school health services in context to the WSCC model. She investigated schools and districts in three different states to learn the influence of polices on school health services. She found various examples, many of which began before COVID, such as the two mentioned above. In addition, she learned of a school district that hired a school nurse manager to coordinate students’ mental health concerns after they were released from the hospital and were back in school. The nurse manager worked with teachers and families to address the social needs impacting the students’ mental health. In each of the models, the coordination performed by school nurses with teachers and mental health workers was critical in meeting individual student needs while also addressing mental health across the entire school population and trying to prevent additional concerns. The analysis showed that coordination across all aspects identified in the WSCC model was critical for a sustainable school health mental health model. Teams improved coordination for more effective use of resources, decreased duplication of efforts and created a stronger advocacy effort.

Addressing mental health in the schools is another opportunity to really use the WSCC model and transform school health to meet current trends. Current calls to action have focused on the need for mental health workers and community partnerships, which are important. Yet, we must not forget the role school nurses and other school health services personnel play in addressing mental health. The Future of Nursing 2030 report calls for more school and community nurses working to their full scope to coordinate efforts within their institutions as well as within the broader community, and highlights school nurses’ role in addressing mental health.

School nurses, along with school mental health workers, teachers, families and communities have seen the rising mental health concerns in youth. Many have developed sustainable, effective, evidence-based programs. These successful programs should not be overlooked. As we move forward, policies and targeted funding must leverage a coordinated approach that builds a sustainable infrastructure for school health that focuses on the whole child.

Maughan is executive director of the Center for School Health Innovation & Quality, an independent hub to advance data-driven school health through innovation, research and policy. She co-leads a global school nurse researcher consortium and is a board certified advanced public health nurse who advocates for children living in vulnerable populations.

The post Successful School Mental Health Programs appeared first on Campaign for Action.

The school district developed a video about the program, watch it below.

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As the calendar flips to August, America’s schools are preparing for a new academic year, the fourth one impacted by COVID-19.

School nurses are the front lines of public health and primary care, and the Campaign is pleased to share two blogs from a global school nurse researcher and board-certified advanced public health nurse who advocates for children living in vulnerable populations. The focus is the role of school nurses in addressing health inequities and mental health.

The National Academy of Medicine’s Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report called nurses to action to address health inequities. Another focus of the report was school nursing. School nurses are on the frontlines of public health and primary care. So what is the role of school nurses in addressing health inequities?

The Center for School Health Innovation & Quality is exploring that question. The Center is a new initiative to advance the science and profession of school health, especially school nursing, in order to better serve all students, including those from underserved groups.

The Center reached out to school nurse thought leaders who, along with their own experience, identified key ways school nurses address health inequities. In addition to learning and being aware of their own implicit biases, the Center identified the following activities:

• School nurses use data to map poverty and other social factors with chronic conditions to determine further inequities and create solutions, such as coordinating for mobile clinics for dental, vision, and well-child exams to be provided at the school. An example, published by Center members, includes a school nurse supervisor who mapped her data and learned low-income students, due to their medical treatments were assigned to schools sometime an hour away from their homes. The commute time, often on public transportation, raised concern. She advocated for more equitable school placements.  School nurse should examine their data to determine if individualized care plans, 504 accommodations, and other health activities equitably represent the needs of their student population.
  • School nurses already conduct physical health screenings such as vision and hearing. Many nurses are expanding to include screening on social needs. This helps identify inequities earlier for individual families as well as look at trends of the population in order to identify more upstream solutions.
  • School nurses review and advocate for changes in school policies so as not to perpetuate health inequities. These include:
    • School lunches and lunch shaming (schools can move to universal free lunch programs)
    • Vaccine policies of “no shots no school” when there are issues of access. (School nurses often coordinate with local providers and the health department to provide school-located vaccine clinics to assure all have access to vaccinations)
    • School-to-Prison Pipeline. Researchers have found that there are inequities in suspensions and discipline occurrences that play out in school, creating a school-to-prison pipeline. A school nurse can look at their own activities to identify disparities in activities by groups in vulnerable situations, and advocate for a regular review of all infractions to identify possible inequities.
    • Period poverty. School nurses can provide and advocate for free menstruation supplies as well as make others aware of the growing problem.
    • Fees for sports or other extracurricular activities. Although improving, some schools still charge fees for students to participate in sports and various after school activities. This limits who can participate. Sports and other extracurricular activities help increase students’ chances for college.
    • Sports physicals. Many schools require physicals, which can be expensive, and some providers charge even to fill out a form. School nurses can advocate for free physicals and other options.
• School nurses see inequities and social issues and have the data to advocate for larger systemic changes such as:
  • violence in the neighborhood before, during, and after school.
  • no bussing
  • clean buses
  • improved school ventilation systems (air conditioning, appropriate heating)
  • access to WIFI (so children do not need to sit in fast food parking lots to do homework or access telehealth)
  • access to clean water
  • grassless playgrounds
  • access to fresh foods, such as partnering with farmers markets and food pantries to be right at the school
  • bullying (especially for LGBTQ+ and other students in vulnerable situations)
  • “Temporary” portable trailers (which may not have heat or running water and were meant to be temporary but are used long-term).
  • School start times. Researchers have shown that start times can help students succeed better. In one district in Washington, the change in start times decreased the number of students arriving late and first period absences in a lower income school to be comparable with those of students in a higher income school.   

Most off these ideas are more mid-stream solutions to inequities. School nurses also have an important role in addressing inequities upstream. This includes seeking out and advocating for students in underrepresented groups and letting them know about opportunities in the health professions or other career options that can help the next generation. They can help mentor students to take the classes needed to meet their career goals.

To really address root causes of inequities, school nurses must also look at school health policies themselves. Researchers have examined school policies related to inequities in resource distribution and racially biased disciplinary actions, which create a school-to-prison pipeline. Just as policies impact school-to-prison pipeline, do other policies inadvertently create a pipeline for health inequities? Policy work is a pillar of the Center and is one of the next projects it will address.

This list is just a beginning. As school nurses continue to learn more, review their data, and become integrated into school inclusion teams, they will find additional ways to impact student inequities. Addressing inequities early will allow more time for students to reach their full potential.  Learn more about the Center for School Health Innovation & Quality.

Maughan is executive director of the Center for School Health Innovation & Quality, an independent hub to advance data-driven school health through innovation, research and policy. She co-leads a global school nurse researcher consortium and is a board certified advanced public health nurse who advocates for children living in vulnerable populations.

The post Role School Health Addressing Health Inequities appeared first on Campaign for Action.

When nurses are empowered to create health equity in their communities, they bring together a network like nobody else can.

The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has demonstrated this principle through its Nursing Innovations Fund that supports the Campaign’s state-based Action Coalitions in creating replicable and promising solutions for improving health equity through nursing.

The Nursing Innovations Fund was also designed to spark collaboration with partners outside of nursing. One condition of the award is that applicants must seek matching funds from other organizations. In combination with other tools to engage local stakeholders, the awards have led to an impressive array of new multi-sector relationships, helping nurses discover new allies for creating better access to care and services.

Launched in 2018, the Nursing Innovations Fund has led to new projects in 23 states. The Campaign has awarded more than $850,000 to a wide variety of initiatives, with every dollar being matched by other funders. This blog highlights the collaborations and projects from the 2019 and 2020 cohorts representing 17 states, whom created over a dozen publicly accessible tools to be used for building health equity. All of the resources are available on the Campaign website.

State coalitions secured investment from multiple organizations that understand why it is so important to invest in better access to care and services. They include organizations one might expect, such as hospitals, nursing schools, and regional philanthropies. Action Coalitions also secured funding from unexpected sources:

• In Georgia, funding from the Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services helped create more effective paths for Black men to enter nursing.  
• In Kentucky, the Kentucky Beef Council supported an initiative to prevent suicide in the farming community, and
• In Nebraska, Scoular, an agriculture supply chain company, contributed matching funds to a project aimed at improving health equity.

In addition to funders, Action Coalitions garnered critical support from community partners representing dozens of different organizations. Here are a few of their stories:

• In Pennsylvania, a podcast highlighting nurses in health equity roles featured many local partners, including Sanctuary Farm, a program that converts abandoned areas in Philadelphia to farm plots.
• In Washington, a program to bring culturally appropriate food and essentials to older Filipino community members worked with local and national groups such as the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.
• In Indiana, nurses from the Indiana Center for Nursing collaborated with the AARP state office to enable nursing schools across the state to implement holistic admissions programs

Crucial to the impact of these projects is the idea that all of them can provide insights that help many other organizations disrupt disparities and improve access to care and services.

Actions Coalitions drew on well-established tools to address health disparities, including the Campaign’s Heath Equity Toolkit and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthy People 2030. In turn, many of them developed new resources to help others:

• In Wisconsin, the Action Coalition developed a curriculum to improve nurses’ disaster response capabilities, and it is being shared throughout the state.
• In Massachusetts, nurses developed an anti-vaping resource kit for use in public schools.
• The Pennsylvania initiative centers on a podcast that helps nurses envision new careers in health equity.

Together, these partnerships, resources, and insights add up to a powerful network working to achieve health equity in the U.S. built on strengthened nursing capacity and expertise, as the National Academy of Medicine’s Future of Nursing 2020—2030 report has envisioned.

In the coming weeks, this Campaign blog will feature more detailed explorations of how this work brought together local and state coalitions to address health equity. Projects to be featured include:

• Indiana – This project brought together partners including AARP Indiana State office and Orbis Education to help nursing programs implement holistic admissions and peer-to-peer mentoring for the Nursing Education, Engagement, and Diversity Statewide Initiative, or NEEDS.
• Kentucky – The Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition enlisted school nurses to address the state’s disproportionate suicide rate, culminating in a dramatic presentation designed with the Actors Theater of Louisville. Title: School Nurses to BARN Camp for the Mental Health and Wellness of Kentucky Youth.
• Massachusetts – This project addressed vaping in youth in partnership with education and law enforcement groups from across the state, yielding new curricula to aid teachers in elementary and secondary schools. Title: Promoting Health Literacy to Influence Health and Wellness of Students in the Community: Widening the Connections.
• North Carolina – Working with the North Carolina Action Coalition, the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University developed a new model of coalition-building to help African American and rural communities. Title: Project RARE (Reciprocal, Authentic, Relationships for Equity).
• Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Nurses Center explored gaps in the state’s emergency preparedness plans, then developed a training to help nurses address the problems. Partners included nursing schools as well as the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative and the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association. Title: Preparing Wisconsin Nurses to Address the Needs of Vulnerable Populations in a Public Health Emergency.

Previous blog entries have also explored Nursing Innovations Fund programs in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Are you interested in addressing health equity in ways like the Campaign’s Action Coalitions? Visit the Nursing Innovations Fund page for a complete list of programs as well as the Campaign resources nurses used to create them.

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Created by the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, the toolkit is based on the nursing process—the five steps known as ADPIE:

Assessment

Diagnosis

Planning

Implementation

Evaluation

This ADPIE framework lets health professionals assess how ready they are to take action to improve health equity locally, as well as measure their community’s needs.

Each section of the toolkit stands on its own, which means it’s user-friendly—nurses,  as well as Action Coalitions and their partners, can pick and choose elements that are appropriate for the level of engagement, experience, and the specific needs of their community.

If you have questions about the toolkit, please contact Jazmine Cooper, at jncooper@aarp.org.

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A nurse from Maryland is one of five winners of this year’s AARP Purpose Prize Award for people age 50+ who are giving back, solving problems, and changing lives. They will all be celebrated at a virtual awards show on Wednesday, December 15^th which the public is invited to attend. (Register here.) Michelle Miller, co-host of “CBS Saturday Morning” is emceeing the celebration, which will include a live chat with Dr. Vic Strecher, a visionary leader and professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Actor Michael J. Fox will be given an honorary award for his work helping to advance scientific progress toward a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

Ify Nwabukwu BSN, RN, is receiving the award for her work seeking to reduce the burden of cancer on African immigrant women and their families by providing equal access to screening and care.​ She is executive director of the African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association, which she founded in 2004 after watching her mother, recently immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria, struggle to navigate her own breast cancer diagnosis and care.

The other winners who will be celebrated on December 15^th are:

• William Bracken of Fountain Valley, California, the founder and culinary director of Bracken’s Kitchen, which produces meals to contribute to solving the growing issues of food waste and food insecurity.
• Raymond Jetson, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, founder and chief executive of catalyst of MetroMorphosis, which seeks to develop and mobilize a critical mass of engaged citizens to design and implement sustainable solutions to persistent community challenges.​​
• Alan Miller of Bethesda, Maryland, founder and CEO of the News Literacy Project, which teaches people of all ages and backgrounds how to identify credible news and other information.
• Rita Zimmer of New York City, founder and executive director of HousingPlus, which provides community-based housing and comprehensive services to women to support them in overcoming poverty, homelessness, addiction, trauma and the effects of incarceration.

The annual Purpose Prize is for people who have used their knowledge and life experience to solve challenging social problems, and who undertook this work later in life, at age 40 or older. If you or someone you know fits this description, you can find prize application information at this link.​​

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The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has announced that six nurse-led projects will receive Nursing Innovations Fund awards of up to $25,000 each. The projects submitted by the Campaign’s state-based coalitions all serve to strengthen nursing’s role in building a Culture of Health and promoting health equity by addressing societal barriers to health and well-being, including structural racism. The projects are described below.

The winning projects are from Delaware, Kentucky, Montana, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia, and were selected based on offering replicable strategies that help nurses promote health equity and well-being, while highlighting the importance of collaboration with diverse stakeholders. In fact, each of the 2021 Nursing Innovations Fund projects secured dollar-to-dollar matching funds from local and state partners as a condition of the award, which prioritizes coalition building to achieve sustainable change. As of 2020, the Campaign’s state coalitions have raised more than $93 million from community partners.

“This award’s focus on health equity has never felt more urgent,” said Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, senior adviser for nursing at RWJF and director of the Campaign for Action. “This pandemic has put a spotlight on the inequities in our healthcare system. People of color, with lower incomes and those living in remote communities have gotten sick and died in the greatest numbers. Nurses remain on the front lines as trusted providers of care, and they are stepping up to innovate ways to build more equity into the system.”

“It is remarkable to me that despite the unprecedented pressure nurses are under during this pandemic, they are prioritizing the critical work that is needed to create structures to make health care more equitable in every way,” 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, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and RWJF, which coordinates the Campaign for Action. “We received impressive proposals from all over the country, including some places hardest hit by COVID. I feel so much pride in our profession right now.”

“When nurses reflect the communities they serve, you see significant improvements in health and health equity,” said Eric J. Williams, DNP, RN, FAAN, interim associate dean of health sciences, nursing program director at Santa Monica College, and co-chair of the EDISC. “No one is better positioned than nurses to innovate ways to make their profession more inclusive and diverse.”

The Campaign’s Nursing Innovations Fund was created in 2018 to support work of its state Action Coalitions and allies that inform and influence policy, produce replicable strategies that place nurses in positions as essential partners in providing care, and strategically involve a diversity of stakeholders. This competition was limited to the Action Coalitions or organizations designated by Action Coalitions and required applicants to raise funds to match the award dollars. To date, Action Coalitions and their allies in 23 states have received Nursing Innovations Fund awards to build healthier communities through nursing.

The winners and an overview of each of their projects are listed below:

Delaware

Title: Nursing in the 21st Century: Exposing Middle School Students to a Career in Nursing

School nurses from Delaware’s Brandywine School District will pilot an afterschool program that aims to increase awareness of nursing career pathways among students from underrepresented communities. Working with key stakeholders, the project staff will construct and administer a program that focuses on informing middle schoolers, especially students from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, low-income communities, and boys about potential career opportunities in nursing. The pilot will be administered in three district middle schools during the project year and shared with educators across the state.

Kentucky

Title: School Nurses to BARN Camp for the Mental Health and Wellness of Kentucky Youth

The Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition will partner with the University of Kentucky College of Nursing to implement a mental health and wellness training for school nurses with the goal of decreasing youth suicide in the state, which far exceeds the national average. This project expands on the Bringing Action Right Now, or BARN, initiative aimed at addressing health equity via social isolation awareness and training. Project leaders will recruit 100 school nurses to participate in the program and will work with a variety of community stakeholders, including the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Montana

Title: Coalition Catalyst: Building Health Equity in Montana

The Montana Center to Advance Health Through Nursing (MT CAHN) aims to advance health equity by involving two nurse leaders on the newly formed Montana Health Equity Task Force. This task force was created to influence policy and guide programs that will improve health equity for Montanans, and the nurse leaders will provide a nursing lens and act as a liaison for the state’s nursing community supporting local level, health equity-focused strategies. Additionally, the nurse leaders will utilize the Campaign for Action’s Health Equity Toolkit to help develop and deliver a health equity track at the MT CAHN Nursing Summit in June 2022.

Pennsylvania

Title: Pennsylvania Action Coalition Cohort of Exchanged Learning (PA-ACCEL) Mentorship Program

The Pennsylvania Action Coalition (PA-AC) will expand its current mentoring program that aims to equip nurses from underrepresented backgrounds with the tools they need to be successful nursing students and nursing professionals. Key components of the 2021-2022 program include mentorship matching from the PA-AC’s Nurse Diversity Council, along with exposure to public health advocacy to inspire health equity and justice. Additionally, the coalition will enhance and promote its PA-ACCEL Toolkit as a model for replication nationwide.

Utah

Title: Building Diversity and Health Equity Competence into the Pipeline of Utah’s Nursing Workforce

The Utah Action Coalition for Health, working with Holy Cross Ministries, will pursue a two-part project designed to build diversity and health equity competence in Utah’s nursing workforce pipeline. The project will increase exposure to nursing careers in predominantly Hispanic communities, and embed Certified Health Workers’ knowledge of health equity/disparities into Certified Nursing Assistant training programs. The Campaign for Action’s Health Equity Toolkit will be interwoven in the project’s implementation phase, and a steering committee composed of key partners will be created for guidance. The project will focus on two school districts initially, with the opportunity for expansion later.

West Virginia

Title: Health Equity Skill Building Multimedia Continuing Education Pilot Project

The Future of Nursing West Virginia (FONWV) will develop a Health Equity Skills Building Multimedia Continuing Education (CE) package for nurses and nursing students. It will focus on the multicultural needs of Appalachian and minority communities in rural and underserved areas of the state and cover systemic racism, implicit bias, equity in care for select populations (starting with LGBTQIA), improving culturally competent care, and building effective cross-cultural communication. The goal is to improve nurse and student nurse skills in building healthier relationships that address disparities, particularly related to stress and trauma.

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About the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action

The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is a national initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and RWJF, working to implement the National Academy of Medicine’s evidence-based recommendations on the future of nursing. The Campaign includes Action Coalitions in nearly every state and the District of Columbia and a wide range of health care professionals, consumer advocates, policy-makers, and the business, academic, and philanthropic communities. The Center to Champion Nursing in America, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and RWJF, serves as the coordinating entity for the Campaign. Learn more at www.campaignforaction.org. Follow on Twitter at @Campaign4Action and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CampaignForAction.

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