Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Submitted by Brenda Afzal, RN, MS

We are in a new dawn regarding environmental health in the United States and, in fact, globally. The public awareness and interest in all things “green” is creating a demand for nurses to understand the relationship between human health and the environments in which we live, learn, work and play. We have moved beyond questioning the science of whether we are in environmental health peril to almost unanimous consensus that we must act and act now on many of the risks we are all experiencing. Nurses, who are one of the most trusted sources of information by the public, must be in a position to both respond to questions about the environment and its relationship to health with credible, evidence-based information, as well as provide leadership in making the necessary changes in our policies and practices. To that end we must prepare nurses to be a cut above the average citizen with regard to their knowledge of environmental health issues.

In December 2008, 50 nursing leaders were selected to represent the nursing profession at a four-day, invitational meeting to develop a strategic plan for environmental health nursing. They represented the following: nursing sub-specialty organizations ranging from nurse midwives, school nurses, and nurse practitioners, to critical care, neonatal, and public health nurses: state nursing associations; as well as the national organizations of Black and Hispanic Nurses Associations. While there were many small accomplishments at this meeting, the two that stand out are the following:

• A national organization was born – the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.
• An organizational structure was constructed and four main Work Groups were created to begin the important work of this new Alliance:
  • Education.
  • Practice.
  • Research.
  • Policy/Advocacy.

This new Alliance is now growing as nurses from around the country join the work groups to participate in meaningful national efforts. For example, the Education Work Group is developing curriculum materials for nursing schools and for continuing education. They are also planning a free, online nursing text on environmental health.

The Practice Work Group is sharing resources for nurses who are “greening” their hospitals and other health care facilities, as well as developing best practices and model policies to decrease unnecessary environmental exposures in our workplaces. They are also exploring standard practices that recognize environmental exposures as a determinant of health.

The Research Work Group is creating a compendium of nursing research articles on environmental health to better identify evidence-based practices. They are also promoting more nurses researchers in this area and sharing information about funding sources.

The Policy/Advocacy Work Group is addressing environmental health policies at the state and national level and helping to mobilize the nursing community to support policies that encourage citizen knowledge about potential hazards through “right to know mechanisms” and reduce/eliminate known and suspected hazardous chemicals that are in our air, water, food, soil and products.

A new and fabulous Web site has been created that is helping to support the many Alliance efforts, as well as contain information and resources that all nurses will appreciate. It is called “e-Commons”, a name that reflects both the new electronic nature of the tool and the old, English term that referred to land that was owned by no one person but rather was co-owned by the entire community. This land was known as the commons.  The new Web site, http://e-Commons.org is just that – a new Web site that we all (all nurses who are concerned about the environment and its relationship to human health) co-own and co-create.

To learn more about the Wingspread Statement, 2009, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments' plan to strengthen the environmental health and nursing movement, please visit http://e-commons.org/anhe/2009/07/01/1909/.