November^cember 2004

American Nurse The Official Puhtication of the American Nurses Association

Nurses provide
ANA psponds to f lu
vaccine crisis ^
care during one
p. 10 hurricane after
Election wrap-up
another
p. 12 By Susan lyossman, RN

Nomination of UAN
T
heir names sound innocent
enough: Charley, Ivan and
secretary-treasurer Jeanne. But the havoc they
and directors wreaked in communities on both
shores of Florida and in neighboring
p. 16 coastal states gave new meaning to the
onset of hurricane season. According
to news reports, in Florida alone the
New ANA year's hurricanes killed 108 people
and damaged more than one-fifth of
headquarters all homes in the state.
building opens As usual, nurses were out in full
force to run shelters and provide other
its doors care to displaced residents — even if it
p. 20 meant putting behind concerns for the
safety of their own families and
homes. One of those nurses was Mike
Nilsson, RN, a member of the Florida

No easy answers Nurses Association (FNA) and a sen-

ior public health nurse supervisor with
the Pasco County Health Department.
In his role with the health depart-
Addressing the needs of undocumented ment, Nilsson served as a shelter man-
ager providing services at a Pasco
immigrants County special needs shelter during
three severe hurricanes: Charley,
Frances and Jeanne.
women and young children don't like "Anybody requiring care, such as
By Susan lyossman, RN those who are oxygen-dependent, the
to move around outside much because
they fear getting picked up by the bor- frail elderly, people with chronic prob-
n the southernmost tip of Texas lems like diabetes and Alzheimer's,

Montgomery County, MD,
Executive Douglas M. Duncan
speaks at ANA !v Open House
on Nov. 5.
For all the latest
nursing news, go to
www.NurslngWorld.org
I
der patrol."
bordering Mexico lies the lower In part-agricultural, part-industrial are brought to our shelter as part of a
Rio Grande Valley. And within this Noble County in northeastern Indiana, mandated evacuation plan," Nilsson
valley are numerous colonias, or unin- undocumented immigrants do make said.
corporated townships, where immi- their way to the local ER for both Throughout Florida, many state-
grant workers and their young families emergency services and primary care. employed nurses were helping out in
live in crowded, impoverished condi- However, providing continuity of care the harshest of conditions, according
tions that inherently promote poor and getting accurate health histories is to Nilsson. Nurses had to care for and
health and communicable diseases like See No easy answers on page 4 ^ See Hurricane on page 7 •-
TB.
"We know this population is at high
risk for illness," said Texas Nurses
Association (TNA) member Eloisa G.
Tamez, PhD, RN, FAAN, who is work-
ing to promote health services in the
region. "But they often are afraid to
get help, or they don't have transporta-
tion to get to the free clinics. The

Hurricane
Continued from page I
protect occupants wbile sbelter
doors were being blown open and
roofs blown off, he said. After tbe
burricanes, tbe public health
department sent out teams of
nurses and other staff to locate
residents who didn't evacuate to
shelters to determine if they were
all right and to assess any linger-
ing public health threats in their
community.
At his sbelter alone, Nilsson
and other public health staff bad to
deal with several life-threatening
events. For example, one man went
into respiratory arrest, and several
other people developed cardiac
symptoms and had to be transport-
ed to the ER. In anotber case, a
woman wbo bad been brougbt to
the sbelter from an ER had to be
sent to a nursing home because sbe
was medically unstable and unable
to walk on her own.
In bis role as president of tbe
bargaining unit representing state-
employed health care profession-
als, Nilsson is scheduled to meet
with state healtb department offi-
cials to discuss ways to properly
compensate nurses as "first
responders" wben they are activat-
ed to provide services during disas-
ters. Also on the agenda is
discussing how to ensure that evac-
uees witb higb acuity levels get
optimum care by finding alterna-
tive placements, such as nursing
homes or assisted living facilities,
instead of having tbem come to the
special needs shelters. He estimat-
ed about 15 percent ofthe shelter
occupants he encountered needed
alternative placement. (He and bis
fellow staff oversaw tbe care of as
many as 200 people in the special
needs shelter during each ofthe
storms.)
Nilsson also believes more must
be done to ensure that bealtb care
professionals address tbe psycbo-
logical trauma of residents who
survived tbese serious storms.
Wben recalling the response of
RNs, Nilsson expressed his admi-
ration for the way nurses and other
staff pulled together during the
hurricanes.
"Nurses really rose to the occa-
sion to provide good, compassion-
ate care," he said. Many, including
his wife, Roberta, a retired public
health nurse, had foregone sleep.
November/December 2004 • The American Nurse m www.NursingWarld.org
adequate food and breaks to take
care of people in very chaotic situ-
ations.
Another FNA member witb a
crucial role during hurricanes
Frances and Jeanne was Debbie
Hogan, RN, MPH, clinic supervi-
sor for Children's Medical Services
with the Florida Department of
Health.
Sbe took on several roles at a
West Palm Beach County shelter
designated for medically fragile
children, such as those who bave
trachs, G-tubes, severe asthma and
developmental delays. Among ber
major responsibilities were prepar-
ing the shelter for the evacuees,
overseeing registration and ulti-
mately helping families find transi-
tional housing if their homes were
damaged or lacked important
essentials like electricity for vent-
dependent children.
"Tbose wbo come to our shelter
are our clients already," Hogan
said. "We take a really holistic
approacb because we know these
children and their families and are
vested in their care."
Roughly 18 ofthe 40 children
who qualify to stay at the shelter
opted to do so, Hogan said. One
aspect of the shelter plan she
would like to see changed is to cre-
ate a separate pediatric shelter so
families can stay with tbeir chil-
' dren with special needs. Currently
special needs children share shelter
space with otber evacuees.
Hogan also spoke of tbe incredi-
ble respect sbe has for the nurses
who put tbeir needs aside to come
to support the needs of otbers. She
said that after evacuees and staff
left tbe shelter, some discovered
tremendous damage to their
homes.
Hogan said that ber home bad
roof damage and leaks from tbe
105-mile-an-hour winds of
Frances, but her losses were minor
compared to many others.
In terms of constituent member
association activities, FNA Execu-
tive Director Paula Massey, MN,
RN. said its major role during tbe
recent spate of hurricanes was to
publicize how nurses could access
the volunteer response Web site at
www.disasterbelp.net/vflorida.
There, nurses could register to
help, donate items and get otber
information.
Massey said FNA learned from
the devastating 1992 Hurricane
Andrew ofthe importance of hav-
ing a we 11-coordinated approach to Wilson added tbat ASNA was
responding to emergency situa- holding its convention at a hotel
tions. As part ofthe effort to plan designated as a sbelter during Hur-
for disaster relief, FNA lobbied the ricane Ivan. Altbough nurses
nursing board to quicken the weren't needed for triage activi-
process for out-of-state nurses to ties, Wilson found herself using
obtain temporary licenses. her OB expertise to help a preg-
Massey added, "Our members, nant woman who was staying at
whether they were volunteering or tbe shelter and experiencing
putting in extra hours at their jobs, cramping.
bave done incredible work in "I basically talked with her and
extremely difficult situations in the made calls to her physician," she
recent weeks." said.
And in Alabama, wbich was hit Wilson said that people's will-
bard by Hurricane Ivan, Alabama ingness to aid hurricane evacuees
State Nurses Association Interim was a wonderful thing to see.
Executive Director Helen Wilson, "The hotel opened up all its
MSN, RN, said that the associa- rooms to families and their pets,
tion's cbief role was to stand by and and bed manufacturer Hill-Robm,
determine if extra RN help was which was sponsoring our party,
needed. Currently, the Alabama donated extra food to the shelter,"
Emergency Task Force coordinates Wilson added. •
the response to disasters, and public
health nurses are put on alert. Wil- For more information on
son said ASNA was instrumental in disaster relief efforts, go to www.
starting the task force, which now disasterhelp.net or the American
is run by the state public health Red Cross Web site at www.
department. However, ASNA mem- redcross.org.
bers make up a large part of the
task force, and many members also Susan Trossman is the senior
volunteer with the Red Cross. reporter tor The American Nurse.
Georgetown University
School of Nursing and Health Studies
Tenure-Track Faculty Appointments
Georgetown University invites applications and nominations for fuli-time, tenure-track faculty
appointments with specialization in:
Adult Health Women's Health
Applications for positions at the Assistant, Associate, or Fuil Professor level are welcome.
Qualified candidates wili have a master's degree in Nursing and an earned doctorate in
Nursing or a related field. Faculty will have a distinguished record of scholarship and success
in obtaining external funding. Post-doctoral preparation is recommended. Vibrant programs
of research and scholarship in the School focus on;
• HIV/AIDS • Health Literacy • Smoking Cessation • intimate Partner Violence
• Child Health Development • Migration/Immigration Impacts on Health
The Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies offers undergraduate and
graduate degree programs in nursing, international health, human science, and health
systems. Situated in the nation's capital, Georgetown is a student-centered research university
in close proximity to the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine, the
National Institute for Nursing Research, and the headquarters of numerous professional and
governmental organizations. Georgetown is the oldest Catholic university in the United States
and cherishes its commitment to Jesuit values: individual and collective excellence in
learning, practice, and service; commitment to human flourishing: professional care and
compassipn; commitment to the common good; and social justice.
Candidates are asked to submit a letter of intent,
curriculum vitae, and the names of three (3) references
by December 15.2004 to:
R. Kevin Mallinson, PhD, RN, AACRN
Chair, Faculty Search Committee
Department of Professional Nursing
School of Nursing & Health Studies
Georgetown University
3700 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20057-1107