Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition receives funding for Innovative Work to Help Nursing Build America’s Health Equity
Posted about 5 years ago by Stephanie Smith
Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition receives funding for Innovative Work to Help Nursing Build America’s Health Equity
The Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition is among 10 organizations that will receive up to $25,000 each for new or ongoing work that addresses nursing’s role in building health equity, well-being, and promoting a Culture of Health, announced the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). All 2020 Nursing Innovation Fund awardees secured dollar to dollar matching funds from a variety of partners, including local county fire and emergency services, a state beef council, United Way, local foundations, health and hospital systems, universities and individual donors, to name a few.
RWJF defines health equity as “everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments and health care.”
Additionally, the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition, as part of its work, will focus on potential policy solutions to address a social determinant of health, including access to care, housing, social isolation, employment or educational attainment.
The Campaign’s Nursing Innovations Fund was created in 2018 to support work for its state-based 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. The competition was limited to the Action Coalitions or organizations designated by Action Coalitions and required applicants to raise funds to match the award dollars. The Kentucky Beef Council of the Cattleman’s Association matched $25,000 for a total of $50,000 to help advance mental health and wellness for 100 farm families in Kentucky.
In addition to the award in Kentucky, the Campaign announced that Action Coalitions or their designees in Arkansas and Tennessee, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming received awards.
“We are proud to be selected for our project, “Kentucky Partners to the BARN (Bringing Awareness Right Now) Program for a Farmer Dinner Theatre Addressing Mental Health & Wellness “and look forward to building on our work to transform nursing in order to improve health, healthcare, and build health equity,” said Janie Heath PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, President of the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition.
According to Delanor Manson MSN, RN, CEO of the Kentucky Nurses Association, the work of the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition to help build a culture of health s critically important since farmer suicide rates throughout the country are consistently higher in rural counties compared to urban counties. The rural character of agriculture often places farmers at higher risk for social isolation, health disparities, and barriers to access mental health services.
“As a co-chair of the Campaign’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (EDISC), I am proud that these 2020 Nursing Innovation Fund projects are committed to advancing health equity, particularly at a moment when our nation is finally paying increased attention to addressing systemic racism,” said Carmen Alvarez, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, assistant professor, Department of Community-Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.
“A pathway to equity is to help build better health through nursing,” said Eric J. Williams, DNP, RN, FAAN, assistant director and faculty chair and professor of nursing at Santa Monica College, and fellow co-chair of the EDISC. “These efforts are a step in that direction and I applaud the Action Coalitions for their work.”
“As our nation continues to face the devastation wrought by COVID-19, nurses remain on the frontlines as trusted providers of care. Now, more than ever, our country is relying on nurses to apply their unique knowledge and understanding of community needs for better health. These states demonstrate how nurses use that critical perspective to implement innovative programs to improve health and well-being,” said Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, senior adviser for nursing at RWJF and director of the Campaign for Action and 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.
About the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action
The Kentucky Nurses Action Coaltion is part of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a national initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and RWJF, working to implement the Institute of Medicine’s evidence-based recommendations on the future of nursing. The Campaign includes Action Coalitions in most states 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 the Campaign for Action on Twitter at @Campaign4Action and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CampaignForAction.