The American Nurses Association (ANA) announced its support for President Obama’s United We Serve campaign being launched on June 22. The ANA also urges the nation’s 2.9 million registered nurses (RNs) to be “disaster ready” by taking action now and pre-registering with one of the many disaster registries and response organizations that already exist.
Created as part of the “Serve America Act” signed into law in April, the United We Serve campaign calls upon all Americans to make a focused effort to volunteer in their communities over the next three months, culminating in a National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11, 2009. The United We Serve initiative encourages Americans to play an active role in the nation’s economic recovery by stepping up to volunteer in service projects at this critical time in our nation’s history, when help is needed and resources are stretched thin.
“In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the increase in the level of the pandemic alert of the H1N1 flu virus, now more than ever it is critical that nurses heed the call to serve by signing up on national disaster registries,” said ANA President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR. “ANA strongly believes that in order to respond effectively, now is the time for nurses to get prepared -- not when the disaster occurs, but before it strikes.”
As the nation’s front-line health care providers, historically nurses have played a vital, critical role in disaster response during catastrophic events. In the event that an overwhelmed community needs help in mass immunization, mass sheltering or other extraordinary conditions, nurses can be counted on to save lives and provide on-site care.
By joining a disaster response registry, an RN’s licensure can be pre-verified and validated; he/she will have access to disaster training and drilling; and during a disaster, he/she will be deployed through a recognized system that has been incorporated into the local, state, and national response plans.
Nurses who are interested in pre-registering with a disaster response organization should visit the websites of the following programs:
- Community Emergency Response Team
- American Red Cross - Volunteer
- Medical Reserve Corps
- National Disaster Medical System
- Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals
- Be Safe, Be Prepared: Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals in Disaster Response
For more information on the United We Serve effort, visit
http://www.serve.gov.
Source: American Nurses Association