WASHINGTON, DC – (September 22, 2010). Nurse practitioners and registered nurses from across the United States will converge on the nation’s capitol to celebrate National Nurse-Managed Health Clinic Week, October 3-9, 2010. An opening ceremony and news conference will take place October 4 from 10-11 am in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, SD-138, culminating with a march to the Capitol steps.
Tine Hansen-Turton, Chief Executive Officer of National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC), will address a gathering of invited guests including Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D), NNCC staff, and a delegation of nurse leaders from across the country. Opening remarks will be delivered by Bonnie Pilon, RN, DSN, FAAN, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Brief presentations will be made by Christina R. Esperat, RN, PhD, FAAN, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing; Sally P. Lundeen, RN, PhD, FAAN, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing and Patricia Dennehy, DNPc, RN, CFNP, Glide Health Services and University of California-San Francisco School of Nursing.
National Nurse-Managed Health Clinic Week will provide a national forum from which to promote the services offered by the 250 nurse-managed health clinics in the United States. Nurse-managed health clinics serve as crucial health care access points for vulnerable and underserved patients in diverse rural, urban and suburban communities throughout the country. These sites are led by advanced practice nurses, most of whom are nurse practitioners.
Sometimes called nurse-managed health centers or NMHCs, they provide primary care, health promotion and disease prevention services to patients least likely to receive ongoing health care services. This population includes clients of all ages who are uninsured, underinsured, living in poverty or members of racial and ethnic minority groups. In March, President Obama announced a $50 million grant program to support innovative safety net providers like nurse-managed health clinics.
“National Nurse Managed Health Clinic Week celebrates the work of nurse-managed health clinics operating in the United States. It also highlights the need for policymakers to appropriate the $50 million to the new nurse-managed health clinic funding program that was authorized by the Affordable Care Act,” says Hansen-Turton.
“Nurses are ready, willing and able to step up and meet our country’s primary care needs. By authorizing investment in nurse-managed health clinics, Congress has shown that it understands the ability of nurse practitioners to provide cost-effective primary care. Nurse-managed health clinics will use this funding to provide health care to patients who are most in need, and to increase educational opportunities for the next generation of primary care providers,” says Kenneth P. Miller, PhD, RN, CFNP, FAAN, chair of the NNCC board of directors.
More than 85 of the nation’s leading nursing schools operate nurse-managed health clinics, enhancing learning and practice opportunities for nursing students and faculty. A week of scheduled activities celebrating nurses and nurse-managed health clinics will follow the October 4 kick-off event.
About National Nursing Centers Consortium
The largest organization of nurse-managed health clinics in the United States, the National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) works to advance nurse-led health care through policy, consultation, programs and applied research to reduce health disparities and meet people’s primary care and wellness needs. The nation’s 250 nurse-managed health clinics reduce health disparities by providing high quality comprehensive primary health care, health promotion, and disease prevention services to uninsured, underinsured, and vulnerable patients in rural, urban, and suburban communities.
