Leadership
Nurses: Leading change in our communities
The last two years have been a few of the most difficult years of our lives for a lot of us. States, cities and communities across the country haven’t only been rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic, but are concurrently impacted by problems with diversity, inclusion and equity, social unrest and, on top of that, natural disasters.
We know that our health care organizations must look after your complete community as much as they look after each individual patient. People need access to care, social support, education, secure housing and work to support themselves and their families. As nurses, we have now known this fact to be true for many years. Just look to historic leaders like Lavinia Dock, a pioneer in nursing and social reform, and Clara Barton, founding father of the American Red Cross, and lots of others who’ve progressed to deal with contemporary problems with health care, social care and equality.
Impacting positive change
But what about today? How can nurses today be leaders of their communities and influence positive change? Nurses working in the general public health and residential care sectors are experts at initiating change in communities, so possibly we will learn from their experiences. We can start by taking a look at what happened throughout the pandemic. Actively practicing nurses and people who had not been at patient bedsides for years stepped up, joined in and commenced volunteering at vaccination centers and health care clinics across the country and the world. And when patients couldn’t make it to clinics, nurses went into local communities to supply care, breaking down barriers to access and providing health care and education to those living there in order that they could make more practical, evidence-based decisions.
In many states, nurses have led and took part in community cleanup teams after natural disasters. Going door to door, nurses ensured that those affected had a secure and clean place to live, food to eat, clothing, and access to health care and mandatory medicines.
But most remarkably, over the past few years, more nurses have served on organizational boards than ever before. According to the Nurses on Boards Coalition, greater than 10,000 nurses currently serve on boards across the country. Having a seat on the table where essential decisions are made and essential issues discussed makes an enormous difference in meeting the needs of our community and influencing mandatory change. Nurses are also beginning to take over politics. Nurses are starting to expand their reach in local, state and federal government, serving as a voice and advocate for the people they serve.