Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Conference

Posted by on May 03, 2010

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) (http://e-commons.org/anhe)

We are in a new dawn regarding environmental health in the US and, in fact, globally. The public awareness and interest in all things “green” is creating a demand for nurses to understand the relationship between human health and the environments in which we live, learn, work, and play. We have moved beyond questioning the science of whether we are in environmental health peril to almost unanimous consensus that we must act and act now on many of the risks we are all experiencing. Nurses, who are one of the most trusted sources of information by the public, must be in a position to both respond to questions about the environment and its relationship to health with credible, evidence-based information, as well as provide leadership in making the necessary changes in our policies and practices. To that end we must prepare nurses to be a cut above the average citizen with regard to their knowledge of environmental health issues.

In December 2008, fifty nursing leaders were selected to represent the nursing profession at a 4-day, invitational meeting to develop a strategic plan for environmental health nursing. They represented the following: nursing sub-specialty organizations ranging from nurse midwives, school nurses, and nurse practitioners, to critical care, neonatal, and public health nurses: state nursing associations; as well as the national organizations of Black and Hispanic Nurses Associations. While there were many small accomplishments at this meeting, the two that stand out are the following:

* A national organization was born – the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
* An organizational structure was constructed and 4 main Work Groups were created to begin the important work of this new Alliance:
o Education
o Practice
o Research
o Policy/Advocacy

About the Nursing e-commons (http://e-commons.org)

The Nursing e-Commons is virtual village where nurses from all specialties can convene to share ideas, network, communicate, and obtain information, materials, curriculum, and resources on environmental health nursing. The Nursing Commons advances educational discovery and the dissemination and generation of evidence-based, scientifically sound information on the effect of the environment on human health. The foundation of the Nursing e-Commons is a belief in the power of community and shared dialog in building capacity for environmental health nursing.

Conference: Our Environment, Our Health: A Nurse’s Call to Action
June 7 & 8, 2010
http://nursing.umaryland.edu/events/anhe/

Join us at the first national conference for nurses addressing the relationship between human health and the environment. Learn about the growing movement that is being created by nurses as they “green” their health care institutions, engage in scientific inquiry, integrate environmental health practices into nursing assessments and interventions, and create and support policies that protect human health and the environment. Come hear about and share in the expanding roles that nurses are taking in the exciting and critical field of environmental health.