Hey Barack, pay attention. Nurses can help with healthcare reform in a lot of ways. Tell the doctors not to get their knickers in a twist, we’re not trying to compete with them, but nurse practitioners may well be the people who dare to go “where no doctor has been before.” I’m not talking about outer space, but into rural areas, inner cities, etc, the places that are suffering the most from shortages of primary care clinicians.

Anyway, if you’re interested, tune in on May 8 to the news conference. Details below:

Whether Dealing with Pandemic or Acute Shortage of Physicians, Nurse-Managed Health Centers Seen As A Key Solution to Health Care Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. May 8, 2009–Health care reform is going to mean that nurse practitioners will play a more front-and-center role in treating patients, especially the more than 46 million Americans who currently lack health care insurance and are underserved by today’s health care system. Whether treating patients with the H1N1 swine flu virus or other illnesses, nurse-managed health centers – an innovative delivery model for primary and preventive care, especially for low-income and vulnerable populations – should expand significantly to increase the capacity of the nation’s over-strained health care delivery system.

That will be the message of speakers at the phone-based news conference to be held Friday (May 8, 2009) at 10:30 a.m. EDT by the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) and its “Raise the Voice” (RTV) campaign.

Involving more than 1,500 professionals and organizations, the nationwide RTV campaign is designed to harness the power of nurses, nurse practitioners and other professionals to provide needed primary health care, health promotion and disease prevention through “disruptive solutions” such as community-based care. That is, care delivered by advanced nurse practitioners and related professionals in a holistic, patient-centered way. The goal of a national network of 200 Nurse-Managed Health Centers (NMHCs) nationwide, many of them associated with schools of nursing, is consistent with the call from President Obama to double the number of community health care centers. The American Academy of Nursing’s “Raise the Voice” campaign receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the news conference is supported in part by the Independence Foundation.

News event speakers will be:

* University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Chair of the Advisory Committee of the “Raise the Voice” campaign of the American Academy of Nursing;

* Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell;

* National Nursing Centers Consortium Executive Director Tine Hansen-Turton; and

* Independence Foundation President Susan E. Sherman.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 10:30 a.m. ET on May 8, 2009 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the “nurses/health care reform” news event. Copies of speaker slides are available on http://www.aannet.org.

CAN’T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 3 p.m. EDT on May 8, 2009 at http://wwww.aannet.org.

CONTACT: Robin Strongin, (202) 263-2917 or rstrongin@amplifypublicaffairs.net.