It Started With Nightingale: Nurses and the Environment
by Hollie Shaner
The American Nurses Association introduced the Pollution Prevention Kit for Nurses at the 1998 ANA convention in San Diego. The kit was the result of last year's House of Delegates resolution to eliminate toxic pollution from health care. The resolution was introduced to facilitate education of nurses nationwide about the tremendous amount of pollution created by the health care industry. Medical waste incineration, the primary treatment practice for wastes generated in health care, has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a major source of mercury and dioxin pollution.
VSNA president, Betty Carney, took an historic leadership role at the 1997 House of Delegates meeting by introducing the resolution to eliminate toxic pollution from healthcare, so that every nurse can practice nursing without contributing to the toxic burden. Nurses from across the nation, including Jeanne Botsford, former president of AORN, Kathy Sperazza of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and members of the Oregon Nurses Association supported the resolution. Because the resolution passed, ANA committed resources to ensure that its members would be educated on the issue and given resources to take action. The Pollution Prevention Kit for Nurses was a direct result of that action.
I had the distinct privilege of working with ANA to develop this tool kit, which will enable nurses all over the country to become advocates for environmental protection and pollution prevention in the health care industry.
What's Inside the Kit?
The kit includes a number of resources including the following:
Plans for Distribution of the Kit ANA is distributing a kit to each state nurses association. Every nurse in the state has access to the kit and can borrow components of it for use in his or her workplace, organization, or school. The contents could be used to develop educational district meetings. The items in the kit are designed to be copied and distributed to help educate nurses everywhere on environmental issues. If you would like to use the kit for a meeting or event, please contact Lynne Dapice at VSNA to make arrangements for the tools you need to use.
In closing, I would like to note that attending the ANA convention was a high point in my professional nursing career. The ANA is truly committed to the nursing profession, and advocating for nurses. They are "at the table" in Washington, DC, in many different settings, diligently advocating to ensure the viability of the nursing profession, and to weigh in on important health care matters for the nation. I left the convention feeling invigorated and proud to be a member of the nursing profession, and grateful that we are blessed with such wise and talented leaders at ANA. I only wish that every nurse in Vermont had the opportunity to experience the camaraderie, respect, dignity and synergy that comes from spending a few days with some of the most dynamic, motivated, and savvy nurses on the planet.