The Official Publication of the Alaska Nurses Association Circulation 7,400 to every Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse and Student Nurse in Alaska
Volume 59 • No. 4
November 2009
Page 5
Helping Our City’s Homeless By Sr. Jacqueline Stoll, ANP Two thousand three hundred and fifty six! An unbelievably high figure, especially when one stops to consider that it actually represents the estimated number of homeless individuals in Anchorage on any given night. Thirteen is another figure that should leave each of us disturbed since this is the number of homeless individuals who Sr. Jackie Stoll have died on the streets of in the Anchorage Caring Clinic. Anchorage since May of this year. While there are many factors that may have contributed to these individual tragedies, it is clear that homelessness
Alaska Nurse Practitioner Conference 2009
and health care, or the lack thereof, are directly linked, and there is something you can do about it! Studies have shown that homeless individuals are six times more likely to become ill than those who are not homeless. In addition to overall poorer health, the homeless have a higher risk of death than individuals who are housed. This increased risk of illness and death is due in large part to the multiple barriers homeless face in trying to access health care including lack of insurance, lack of transportation, poor telephone access, as well as having to prioritize such basic needs as food and shelter. Despite these challenges, there have been many caring and generous Anchorage community members who have made great efforts over the years to provide basic health care services to those who are Helping Our City’s Homeless continued on page 7
Special Award for KGH Home Health and Hospice Staff
Page 6
Parish Nursing— Ministries of Health Growing and Serving in Alaska
Page 10
The Alaska Nurse Alert System: Who Are We? By LeMay Hupp, Coordinator In case you haven’t heard, the Alaska Nurse Alert System is a network of nurse volunteers who are willing to help in a crisis event. These situations could be a major earthquake, urban wildfire, volcanic eruption or a disease outbreak. Over 435 nurses have signed up! Our most significant event of 2009 was the actual call out, this spring, for ANAS volunteers to assist during the floods. Two Advanced Nurse Practitioners were able to travel to Eagle to assist in the clinic. ANAS were there and became an important player in the emergency response! Of course many of our volunteers have assisted in mass vaccination exercises over the last three and a half years. This valuable training, and networking with other nurses in their communities, will greatly enhance our capabilities during this H1N1 Influenza outbreak. In a recent analysis of the volunteers, some interesting statistics were found.
Presort Standard US Postage
PAID
current resident or
Permit #14 Princeton, MN 55371
~ 86% of our volunteers are RN’s, 9% Advanced NP’s, and 5% are LPN’s and senior nursing students ~ Our volunteers have very diverse areas of nursing expertise from public health to NICU and CCU, school health to nursing administration and management, forensic nursing to home health and nursing education to behavioral / mental health. A little over 35% work in acute care / hospital settings. ~ Many of our volunteers, over 85%, have become certified in specialty areas. ~ 68% of us work full time while the remaining volunteers work part time or are unemployed / retired. ~ 10% speak a second language other than English, 15 different languages! ~ Our nurse alert volunteers represent 52 communities across the state from Barrow to Ketchikan and Nome to Delta Junction. 67% of these communities are on the road system.
We recognize that nurses are in great demand, especially in the time of a disaster. Many of us have other obligations which may preempt us from volunteering as much as we’d like. That is exactly why we should see this organization grow in number. If we have many volunteers in the database, we will hopefully have enough that can help when and where they are needed. Volunteers can expect a brief e-newsletter every couple months and the opportunity to join in on various continuing education events, in person or by teleconference, with free CEU’s. It’s easy to become a volunteer….. Go to www.nursealert.org or call 274-0827 for more information.
[Editors note: Alaska Updates from DHSS on H1N1 flu can be found at www.pandemicflu.alaska.gov]
Inside This Issue Nursing in the Alaska Air National Guard . . . . . 8
Message from AaNA President and Executive Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Lymphedema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2009 Alaska Statewide Nurses Conference . . . . . 3
AaNA Election Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AaNA General Assembly Resolutions . . . . . . . . . 4
Change Coming 2010-2012 Nursing License . . . 11
Knox Memorial Nursing Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . 6 Nurses in the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Membership Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The AaNA Vision Empowering Alaska nurses to be dynamic leaders, powerful in both the health care and political communities.