Mission of Center for Nursing Advocacy Chapters

Chapters of the Center for Nursing Advocacy

Chapters will eventually be created in every major media market. We are beginning to create chapters as of October 2006. If you would like to start one in your local area, please email the Center's executive director Sandy Summers.

Mission of Center for Nursing Advocacy Chapters

Send the letters on the Center's campaigns page;
Monitor and identify local media pieces and send notes of thanks or encouragement for improvement to members of the media and/or write letters to the editor;
As a group, Identify and train suitable local nurses to launch a health radio talk show like "HealthStyles" or "Health in 30" and/or doing health minutes much like Pat Carroll does for local radio stations;
Work to get the findings of local nurse researchers into the local lay media;
Work to get a public relations professional at hospitals who only focuses on promoting nurses, much as Center board member Georgia Peirce does at Mass General (See the Boston Globe series she generated);
Work on local hospital uniform policies to improve professional appearance and increase visibility of nurses;
Develop web pages to feature local leading lights, summarizing the nurses' accomplishments into powerful paragraphs available to the media complete with compelling photos. (e.g. Why does this nurse's work matter? How has it saved lives or improved outcomes?) Also develop video news web programs and biographies where nurses give a summary to the media and the public the value of your work much like this one by Kristine Gebbie at Columbia University’s School of Nursing;
Start a nurse shadowing program like the program at Dartmouth for medical students, physicians and the media;
Reach out to the media --Invite local journalists and media figures to a roundtable luncheon where they can hear about the work of local nursing leaders and learn nursing's value;
Create databases of local media figures and another database of local nurse experts to facilitate a better interface between the media and nursing;
Give presentations to local groups about nursing's media image;
Catalog stories featuring the interesting dramas that nurses live every day;
For other ideas, please go to the Center's Action page.

We will update this page when we create more chapters. Please hit "refresh" when checking back for updates. Thank you.