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The first group of family nurse practitioner students in Haiti

The first group of family nurse practitioner students in Haiti

This guest blog was written by Carol Roye, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing at Hunter College.

We’re making progress on rebuilding primary care in Haiti!

A group of Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing faculty went to Haiti in June 2010, after the earthquake.  Knowing that the School of Nursing in Port-au-Prince had collapsed, we went  to see how we could help the school.  What we found was a system of nursing education in disarray.  Nurses, in the public schools of nursing, have only a diploma level education.  Yet, nurses provide almost 90% of the health care in Haiti.  They do this without adequate education.

We created a non-profit organization, Promoting Health in Haiti, dedicated to improving nursing education in Haiti.  We saw a very clear need for nurse practitioners — nurses with advanced education in providing primary care.  It took a few years, but on Sept. 26 we began a Family Nurse Practitioner Master’s Program in Léogâne, Haiti.  We are providing classes at an existing 4-year nursing school, Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Épiscopale d’Haïti à Léogâne (FSIL), which is supported by the Haiti Nursing Foundation.  This is a huge step forward for nursing in Haiti, and will bring health care to the Haitian people, most of whom have no access to care.

If you want to read more, or support this program, go to www.promotinghealthinhaiti.org

Carol Roye, EdD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, Hunter College, City University of New York

[caption id="attachment_7050" align="aligncenter" width="222"] The first group

photo credit: healthcare.gov

photo credit: healthcare.gov

 

Yesterday was another must-follow-news-all-day kinda day.

In between unavoidable distractions (work responsibilities) my attention was focused on the impacts of the government shut down and the news about the Affordable Care Act’s most important provisions — the role out of the state exchanges. October 1st was the opening of the state health insurance market place establishing more affordable options to purchase health insurance to the American people.

I kept checking in on my Facebook and Twitter accounts clicking on links to news stories and blogs reporting on the impact of the government shutdown on federal workers placed on furlough, how NIH clinical trials were halted benefiting adults and children undergoing treatment for cancer, and how this shutdown impacts women and children.

As the day moved into the late afternoon and my level of frustration and anger rose, this status update appeared on my Facebook home page posted by the American Public Health Association. Here’s a screenshot of it.

Screen shot 2013-10-02 at 7.10.33 AM

Public Health.   The well-being of all people depends on our diligence and commitment to shaping policies that impact individuals, families and communities.  The Affordable Care Act does this in many ways. We have more to do. This guide can take us further.

Find out how to get a copy of this guide here. 

Barbara Glickstein is co-director of CHMP. She’s a public health nurse.

[caption id="attachment_7042" align="aligncenter" width="300"] photo credit: healthcare.gov[/caption]   Yesterday

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HealthCare.gov officially goes live today which means the health insurance marketplace is open. How are you helping others in your community to learn about the exchanges? Send us your stories. We’ll post them here on HealthCetera.  Email us at centerhealthmediapolicy@gmail.com

Today we’ll report on  two nurse leaders Adriana Perez with the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and Angela Allen with the National Black Nurses Association who are out in their communities explaining the different options under ACA and the importance of signing up to those who may have never had health insurance before.  Watch the NBC News coverage on these two nurses here. 

Let’s motivate each other to get the word out.  Go and sit with a neighbor or friend to help demystify the application process on signing up in the insurance marketplace ( also called the insurance exchanges). We must rise about the political noise to help folks get health insurance.  The ACA is the law.

HealthCare.gov officially goes live today which means the